Bound By Mistake
by CoffeeKnits
Summary: S3 Zutara. The Gang wake up from a fun night of drinking to find none of them can quite remember how Katara and Zuko may have ended up married. Together, the two must face the consequences of their actions. Inspired by a film I saw once when I was a kid, I can't remember the name or any of the actors in it so this is a very lose adaption. Rated T for strong language/ sex talks
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

This is my first time publishing a fic! Apologies for my poor grammar. My best friend is busy helping me proofread CVs and job applications and is busy with her own life so I've decided to just submit these unedited.

I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Katara opened her eyes to a blindingly bright room before quickly shutting them again. She resentfully noted that she had a very strong headache; it felt like her brain was bruised, and she wondered to herself if she had slipped on the ice and cracked her head again like she had when she was twelve. Katara groaned against her pillow, a noise which did not register well with her sore throat or her newly-acquired over-sensitive hearing. She slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the light, and the pain from her headache was momentarily forgotten as she felt her stomach churn.

Perhaps it was her hangover speaking, but the only solace Katara could find at that moment was that the pillow she was using was quite possibly the most comfortable pillow she had ever slept on. The entire bed was ridiculously comfy; even though she was curled up on her side, struggling to stare at the floor, she could feel how soft the sheets were and how thick the blanket was.

Though she had a limited view of the room from her spot underneath the comfortable covers, Katara was almost certain that she didn't recognise the floor, the table beside her bed, or the thin wardrobe standing against the wall. The mattress was entirely too thick and soft to be one from the Western Air Temple where she and the gang had been staying for the last month.

Not that the beds at the temple were uncomfortable; she had certainly slept on a lot worse while she had been travelling with Aang, Sokka and Toph. However, after years without maintenance, the temple beds were noticeably harder and creakier than the one she was currently in. This unfamiliarity led to the question: why was Katara not in a Western Air Temple bed?

Katara tried to think of what had happened the night before, to understand why she felt as awful as did, but she was struggling to come up with clear memories. A feeling of shame washed over her. Through the haze of her headache, she tried to concentrate on what she could remember, trying to piece together the events which had led to her current situation like it was a jigsaw puzzle.

She knew that her name was Katara, that she was from the South Pole, and that she was the last waterbender of her tribe. She knew that the Fire Nation and their Hundred Year War had crushed her culture, tribe and family. She knew that with her brother, Sokka, she had left home to help Aang, the Avatar and last airbender, restore peace and balance to the world. She knew that Toph had joined their gang as Zuko had chased them across the world trying to capture Aang.

She knew that the Fire Nation had succeeded in both their siege against the impenetrable Northern Water Tribe and their siege against the impenetrable city of Ba Sing Se at the heart of the Earth Kingdom. She remembered how Zuko had betrayed her trust, and how Azula had so nearly succeeded in killing Aang underneath the Crystal Catacombs.

She remembered that the gang's planned invasion against the Capital of the Fire Nation during the Black Sun summer solstice had not succeeded, and that she had once again been separated from her father and tribesmen. That hurt to recall, and not just because of her headache.

She remembered that she, Aang, Sokka, Toph, Haru, Teo, and the Duke had retreated to the Western Air Temple where they were hiding out whilst Aang continued his waterbending and earthbending training. She remembered how surprised and confused the gang had been when Zuko appeared offering to teach Aang firebending. She remembered how, despite Katara's warnings, Aang had decided to accept Zuko's offer. Aang and Zuko had disappeared together, following a pathetic initial attempt at training, and returned with stories about the Sun Warriors and dancing dragons and with a renewed enthusiasm for firebending. Katara remembered that the others were foolishly beginning to trust Zuko.

Katara began to recall how, after a particularly tense group dinner, Toph had interrupted Katara's bickering with Zuko to declare that she needed a "night on the town". Aang, Sokka and Zuko had agreed to join Toph for the suggested fun break and that Katara had agreed to accompany them only so she could keep an eye on Zuko; he couldn't be trusted, and Toph's suggested town was filled with gambling, escorts and trouble. She remembered using Appa to get into Fire Nation territory and onto Ash Island, and then sneaking into a lively tavern. That was the last concrete memory she had.

She could vaguely remember trying Fire Nation beer, which had been noticeably less bitter than the Watertribe ale she had swallowed a few horrible sips of when she was younger. Katara was fairly sure that Sokka and Zuko, the oldest of the group, had repeatedly returned from the bar counter with drinks for Katara, Toph and Aang. But after that, the night felt like a mystery. How could most of an entire night be a blank, dark space in her mind? She struggled to think of more memories of it, but it was like looking at images through a wall of murky water; she could see bits and pieces, but nothing was clear to her.

At some point in the evening, potentially the first hour or the third, Toph had suggested they move onto something stronger. Had it been fire nation whiskey? Katara thought she could remember Sokka slinging an arm around Zuko's shoulder and telling him that he wasn't "half bad", going as far as to call him "buddy." Katara didn't like that so she had tried to stand in between them more after that.

Katara noticed a glass of water on the stand next to her, and reached for it gratefully. She tried to take small sips, but was surprised to realise how thirsty and dehydrated she was. She quickly downed the whole glass. The movement caused the blanket to fall off of her slightly, and Katara noticed for the first time that she wasn't wearing a top or any bindings. A second later, Katara realised tht she wasn't wearing any bottoms either, just as she heard something move and groan loudly on the other side of the bed. She warily lifted her head to look over her shoulder before quickly sitting up in alarm.

Another wave of shame, regret and nausea washed over her as she saw Zuko lying next to her. She looked at him in alarm, and from where she had pulled the blanket closer to herself in the night, Katara could see that Zuko was also naked.

Katara gasped.

Startled by the noise, Zuko opened his eyes, blinking heavily, and turned his head towards Katara. She watched as his eyes widened when he glanced around, taking in his surroundings and the way she was now clutching the blanket tightly over herself.

"Shit." Zuko sat up sharply, edging away from Katara as he stared at her in shock.

She wasn't sure what had happened, but she could feel it. The place between her legs felt sore, and she knew that she had had sex for the first time.

Zuko ran his fingers through his hair, unaware of the thoughts coming together in Katara's mind as she put two and two together, and Katara glared at him as he frantically tried to remember how they had ended up like this.

"Shit." Zuko repeated. Katara continued to glare at him. He looked back at her. "Say something!"

"I don't quite remember what happened last night," Katara began, her words laced with fury. "I don't know how you tricked me, but this doesn't change anything between us. I don't have to like you or trust you just because…" She gestured angrily between them, and Zuko's eyes narrowed.

"If you can't remember, then how the hell do you know that this is my fault!?" They both winced at his raised voice.

The longer they sat like this, the angrier Katara felt, and becoming angrier caused her to become more nauseous. She scowled back at Zuko, refusing to dignify his question with an answer. She was about to get off of the bed when she noticed something glinting on Zuko's hand in the morning light as he ran his fingers through his hair again.

Katara had never seen Zuko wear a ring before.

Zuko followed Katara's horrified stare to his left hand and the ring that sat on it. In silent synchronisation, they both glanced at Katara's hands. There, on her left hand, also sat a shiny plastic ring on her ring finger.

"What are these?" She demanded.

"We're married?" Zuko said incredulously at the same time. They stared at each other, both of them confused and appalled.

"Fuck." Zuko swore loudly.

Katara twisted away from Zuko, leaning over the bed, and proceeded to throw up onto the soft blanket.


	2. Chapter 2

The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Thank you so much for the reviews!

I'd just like to mention that this will be a slow-build Zutara story & for the sake of the plot I've bumped everyone's ages up a year or so. This chapter came out a lot longer than I had initially expected, so I'm splitting it into two.

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It was funny; at first Zuko and Katara had been too stunned to process the concept of marriage, let alone the idea of being married to each other. They saw the rings, came to the conclusion of marriage, and were then left dumb-founded at the shock of the realisation.

Katara repeated Zuko's words to herself in horror, and before she could think of what they meant she was filled with panic. Shame, confusion, and anger swelled together in the pit of her stomach as the words _we're married, we're married_ rolled through her head. Combined with her hangover, it had not gone down well. The emotions had all come bubbling to the surface and out of her.

As she managed to catch her breath and her stomach settled, thoughts began to flutter into Katara's head. They were unpleasant thoughts which raised a lot of questions that were difficult to answer. The same thing had happened to Zuko, who had slid off the bed and begun to quietly pick up his clothes.

There was a very clear trail of shoes and clothes from the door to the bed, and Zuko tried to ignore the reddening of his cheeks as he faintly remembered their night together while he slowly re-dressed. But, truth be told, he remembered very little about the night once they had started on the whiskey.

Katara decided to slide out from underneath the tainted blanket. She sent Zuko a sharp look, waiting for him to turn around and look away before she got up and retrieved her clothes.

If they were married, what did that mean for her relationship with Zuko? She certainly didn't plan on trusting him wholeheartedly just because of some drunken mistake. But she didn't want to live her entire life legally bound to someone she loathed either.

Was she doomed to be stuck with Zuko for the rest of her life? Katara hoped that Aang would end the Hundred Year War, but even if that happened she had no clue what the future looked like. She couldn't begin to contemplate what her life would be like outside of the war, but now she was met with questions about what her life would be like in relation to Zuko's life after the war as well. If they even survived the war, that is.

And then there was the question about what would it mean for her if they weren't married at all.

Katara had had sex. She had given Zuko her virginity. Would her tribe forgive her and still accept her? Would she ever be able to find someone willing to marry her even though she wasn't "pure" by Water Tribe standards?

And even if her tribe did welcome her home, accepting that the burden of war and saving the world were justifiable exemptions for her actions, Katara had still given her virginity to the prince of the Fire Nation, to a boy who had betrayed her once already and would no doubt do it again.

Katara finally looked over at Zuko. "Is it even possible?" She asked him. "To get married, just like that? Even if we were drunk?"

Marriages in the Water Tribe were arranged, not as formally as those in the Northern Water Tribe, but they were at the very least pre-planned. For Katara's tribe, marriage was a celebration in which the entire village would be invited to. Or so Katara was told. It had been many years since her village had seen a wedding.

Zuko grimaced. "The Fire Nation allows couples to marry at a registry rather than only at a Sage temple. In towns like Ash Island, these registries stay open late for drunk and spontaneous people. They can make a lot of money off of it." He paused. "So it is possible that... we might be married."

Zuko sank back down on the bed as he processed his own information. Married. The word was continuously bouncing around his head, interrupting any coherent thought.

"But I'm only fifteen!" Katara protested. Marriage was possible for those as young as fourteen in the Water Tribe, but only with parental consent; without that, the youngest you could marry was sixteen.

"The age minimum is fifteen here, you don't need your parents' consent after that," Zuko explained.

"I can't believe it." Katara sighed. "These rings look cheap and fake, and where's our marriage certificate?"

Zuko said nothing.

Katara thought to herself that even though it was possible that they might be married to each other, it didn't mean that they actually were.

"It's probably a joke," she said. "Sokka and Toph are playing a prank on us!"

Zuko didn't reply.

"If we are married, this is your fault!" Katara snapped, annoyed by his silence. She was hungover, confused, and her entire future hung in the balance. On top of that, Katara was still reeling from the fact that she had once again had a lapse in judgement and let her guard down around Zukko. Weren't the consequences bad enough the first time? She didn't want to accept what the consequences might be this time round.

"Stop blaming me for everything!" Zuko shot back. "We don't even know what happened!"

Zuko was failing to see how he wasn't in a lose-lose situation. If they were married, he had no doubt that Katara would use it as a way to hate him for the rest of her life. But if they _weren't_ married, but had still had sex, then Zuko was sure that Katara would still hate him forever.

They stared at each other from across the small room. Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled slowly, partly to relieve stress and partly to avoid the stench of Katara's sick. Katara looked past him at the window; it was becoming increasingly apparent that they needed to get out of the room.

"We need to find Aang, Toph and Sokka. They might know what happened last night," Katara decided.

It was one thing for them to walk around a Fire Nation town in disguise at night, but an entirely different thing to walk around a Fire Nation town in broad daylight when they were fugitives. They crept out of their room quietly, tiptoeing along a hall and down a set of stairs.

"Checking out already?" A cheerful lady crowed at them from behind her reception desk when they reached the foot of the stairs. They gingerly walked over to her. "I would have thought you two newly-weds would have spent a bit more time in there." The woman winked at them, chuckling.

Katara gagged, and fought the urge to throw up again. Zuko shook his head.

"Uh… we're looking for our friends, did they check in too?" He asked.

"They sure did. Room 12," The woman said with a smile. Katara thanked her, and they quickly headed back upstairs in search of Room 12.

Katara was about to knock on the door when it suddenly occurred to her that she was going to have to admit to Sokka about what had happened last night. She could try and pretend that marriage was the only thing that might have occurred between her and Zuko , but she wasn't naïve enough to think that Sokka wouldn't put those two fish hooks together.

"What are you waiting for?" Zuko hissed in bewilderment, bringing Katara out of her moment of panic.

"Uh… nothing." She decided not to share her worry; if Sokka wanted to beat Zuko up, that was hardly her problem. Katara was more concerned with what her brother would think of her. She knocked loudly against the door.

There was no response. Zuko also tried knocking. There was still no response.

Katara then tried the door handle, and it swung open with ease, revealing three people passed out across the room. Toph was lying on her back, sprawled out across a double bed whilst Aang and Sokka were curled up on the floor.

Aang was the first to stir as they stepped into the room. "Hey, Katara. Hey Zuko," he murmured groggily as he opened his eyes.

"Guys, it's time to get up. We need to go," Katara hollered into the room. The three sleeping forms groaned collectively.

"Does anyone remember much about last night? Anyone have any pranks they want to own up to? It's important." Zuko asked.

"Whiskey," Aang whined, wincing as he began to sit up from his position, rubbing his head as he did so.

"Whiskey." Toph confirmed.

"I'm the one who ate all the fire flakes last week, I pinned it on the Duke." Sokka admitted.

"Thanks guys." Katara sighed.

"What's important?" Aang asked. "Did you lose something?"

 _Only my dignity and sanity_ , Katara griped to herself.

"You could go back to the tavern and look for it." Aang continued on. "We'll stay here and sleep."

Katara turned to Zuko. "I could go back there and ask if they know what happened," she suggested.

"Are you crazy? You can't just go walking around town in the day, asking questions and drawing attention to yourself!"

"Zuko, chill," Sokka grumbled from the floor. "We lived in the fire nation for months in our disguises."

"Yes, but as you've already told me, Aang had a full head of hair then and you weren't travelling with a recognizable member of the royal family!"

"Then you stay behind with them and I'll go back to tavern on my own," Katara insisted.

"It's too dangerous, you shouldn't go out alone."

"I am perfectly capable of handling myself! I don't need your help."

"Ugh, yes, I know that. But if you end up waterbending then you'll end up in jail with no-one to back you up!"

"So? It won't be the first time that I've broken out of a fire nation cell."

Zuko opened his mouth to argue further, but was abruptly cut off by Toph.

"Both of you go! I want to sleep!" She complained.

"We'll be up in an hour," Aang promised, his words groggy.

"Half an hour," Katara countered as she weaved her way back past Aang and Sokka and out the room.

"Be ready. If something goes wrong, we need to be able to leave quickly. You guys should really think about locking that door too," Zuko lectured the sleepy trio.

"Don't be silly, no one sneaks up on me," Toph mumbled into her pillow as Zuko closed the door.

He paid a copper piece for each member of their party at the reception desk of the Ember Inn. He tried not to laugh or roll his eyes when the receptionist addressed them as Mr and Mrs Fire; Sokka had definitely come up with that one. But one glance at Katara told him that it was too soon to laugh about the predicament they were in.

Katara asked for directions to the Flaming Tavern and, as they walked in tense silence, thought to herself about how the names of everything in the Fire Nation were unimaginative: the capital was literally called the Fire Nation Capital City.

Zuko stuck to the shadows on the edge of each street and Katara kept her eyes down as they walked. It was after midday and they were lucky to find that the tavern had reopened to serve lunch.

The bartender was a fat man, with grey hair that had been tied into a top-knot. He gave them an all-knowing grin through his long beard. He reminded Zuko of his Uncle Iroh, and he was momentarily pained to think of how he had betrayed his Uncle and left him to rot in a prison cell - at least, until Iroh had escaped on his accord.

"What can I do for you lovebirds?" The bartender asked the pair. They both grimaced back at him.

"We need help remembering last night," Katara confessed. She held up her ringed hand. "Is this real?"

The Iroh lookalike let out a hearty chuckle.

"Sure is, Sweetheart," the man confirmed. "Last night was our Forbidden Lovers Festival."

Zuko and Katara stared at him, not understanding what that meant.

"This town has an annual tradition where once a year, unlikely couples are encouraged to get hitched at the registry next door. I thought you guys should have won cutest couple, personally, it's been years since I've seen two people look at each other the way you two did," he rambled on.

Katara blushed whilst Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Do you have any proof? A marriage certificate?" Zuko asked, a demand for answers barely hidden under his questions.

The bartender reached into his boot and pulled out a scroll. "You asked me to look after it for safekeeping. Seems even you knew you'd had a bit too much to drink!"

Katara looked momentarily appalled as he handed the parchment over to Zuko. "How could you let people do something so irresponsible and stupid as get married when they're drunk?" she asked him, aghast.

"Well, I didn't make the tradition or the festival. We're just a town of hopeless romantics, really. And, I've always thought a bit of liquor helps a person show their true colours and their true feelings," the old man shrugged.

"For a town of romantics, you could make better rings," Katara replied sourly, fidgeting with the plastic on her finger.

It had occurred to Zuko then that their marriage wouldn't count if they'd done it under their fake names of Mr and Mrs Fire. He unraveled the scroll, feeling a mixture of excitement, apprehension, relief, and disappointment. He was unable to identify which outcome he felt most nervous about.

"For better or for worse, you two agreed to marry each other and stay by each other's side." The Iroh doppelganger seemed to feel the need to repeat their vows to them, recognising that they wouldn't remember them from their actual wedding. "Marriage is never easy, no matter how perfect the beginning, so I hope you two don't look at this as the end because it is only the start."

Zuko felt his blood run cold as he read the document. It looked like a legitimate marriage certificate.

And it looked even more all the more real with Katara and Zuko's full names written and signed on it.

 _How could they have been so stupid?_

Zuko glanced back at the man, alarmed. He had surely read the document if Zuko had given it to him, which meant that he knew their real identities. He looked up at the old man, preparing for the worst.

"How long do we have till the guards arrive?" Zuko asked bitterly.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

I'm a law student and since Zuko is part of the royal family, I think he can't just accept that he is married simply because he's wearing a ring! That's why the last chapter was a bit focused on the particulars of their wedding certificate and the fire nation registries.

Now, onwards with the fluff and drama!

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"Less than a few minutes, Your Highness," The old man admitted. "I sent one of my servers out to fetch them when you walked in through the door. I'd like you to know it's not personal, Your Highness, I like you both. But it'd be treason if I didn't turn you in."

"We need to go," Zuko hissed, grabbing Katara by the forearm and dragging her away. She shrugged herself out of his grip, resenting his bossy tone, but Katara matched the speed of Zuko's footsteps; she had gleaned from his conversation with the barman that they were in danger, and she understood that that was more important than her pride.

"Good luck with the marriage!" The old man called as they fled the tavern. Zuko began to move even faster, half running through the street without trying to draw any more attention to themselves.

There were several inns on the small island, which was probably why they hadn't been found and arrested last night; they'd been able to blend into the crowd of drunken people who were recently married.

Zuko explained to Katara about the names and what that meant for their covers as they tried to subtly run back to the Inn. Katara listened in stunned silence, stumbling next to him, whilst both of them continuously looked over their shoulders to see if they were being followed.

Katara had dreamed of her wedding day for years while she was growing up, using it as a distraction from the war. She had dreamed of marrying another powerful waterbender, and having a loving marriage with lots of children running around in a safe, stable, and ever-growing Southern Water Tribe.

She had never imagined a marriage like this.

Zuko and Katara rushed through the lobby of the inn, waving at the receptionist before barging up the stairs and into the room of Aang, Sokka and Toph.

"Get up!" Zuko shouted. "Guards will be here any minute! We need to go!"

"Sparky's right" Toph confirmed to the group, frowning as she pulled herself out of bed. "There are guards arriving in reception right now."

Aang and Sokka sprang up from the floor - at least, as much as hungover teenagers _can_ spring up from the floor when adrenaline begins to shoot through their veins. Everyone turned to face the tiny window in the corner of the room.

Toph shifted into an earthbending stance, and Katara felt the room shake slightly as the earth outside the inn moved under Toph's control, crashing against the building wall at the younger girl's actions. Toph hopped up onto the window ledge and disappeared from view, using her bending to gracefully slide down her make-shift slope and step off of it with ease. Aang followed suit, using his airbending to soften his landing at the bottom of the slope. Katara followed next, halfway down the slide when Sokka started shouting.

"Let's go!" Sokka screamed as guards bustled into their room. Zuko threw a flaming arc in the direction of the guards in an attempt to keep them at bay.

Sokka grabbed Zuko as flames shot towards the guards, yanking him out of the window. Together they fell down the slide with as much finesse as a hog-monkey in a china shop. Guards appeared at the window, scanning for the group. Toph immediately bent the slide back into the ground to stop the guards from following suit.

The boys hit the end of the slide with an ungraceful thump, crashing into the group. Sokka managed to fall into Zuko, who in turn fell onto Katara, accidentally grabbing her waist and tackling her to the ground before he could balance himself. He was momentarily winded, as he had managed to turn their bodies so that his back took the impact of their fall onto the hard ground.

Katara glared daggers at him, their faces inches apart. "Let go of me!" she hissed, pushing at his chest to make him release his arms, which were protectively wrapped around around her.

Sokka helped her off the ground, and Zuko pushed himself up. As a group, they ran out of the alleyway and down a few streets before some guards spotted them, continuing the chase. Only half of the guards seemed to be firebenders, so Katara used the water from a nearby fountain to freeze the non-benders to the ground.

The remaining guards in pursuit were no match for Aang, Zuko, Katara and Toph. Aang had spent the previous night with a hood up to cover his tatoos, but now, with their covers blown, he used his air bending to push the guards even further behind them. Sokka cursed himself for leaving his space sword and boomerang back at the air temple. They kept running, keen to not stop for a proper fight in case more guards arrived.

One of the most annoying things about the entire chase was that Zuko still couldn't focus. The marriage was real. Zuko was actually married to Katara. One thought in particular kept creeping back into his head: if he became the Fire Lord, did that mean Katara would become the Fire Lady?

It was a stupid thought, of course - Katara hated Zuko and the Fire Nation, she would never willingly lead them.

The group ran for their lives, finally reaching the edge of the town and the outskirts of the island where they had hidden Appa.

"Time to go, buddy," Aang said to Appa as everyone frantically climbed onto the sky bison. "Yip yip!"

They pulled up into the sky, safely away from the danger below, and began heading back to the Western Air Temple Mountains.

Everyone sat quietly, trying to catch their breath.

"Did you guys pick up lunch?" Sokka asked hopefully.

Zuko and Katara both glared at him.

"What were we thinking!?" Zuko shouted. "We risked everything going there and letting our guard down! The fate of the world rests on Aang's shoulders - what if he'd been caught?"

"Listen, Sparky. You were just as much a part of the partying as the rest of us," Toph shot back. "I didn't see you complaining last night!"

"It was stupid and reckless!" Katara ranted, turning to Zuko to angrily point at him. "And _you_ were the one helping buy everyone drinks last night, which makes _you_ responsible for what happened!"

"So was Sokka!" Zuko defended, crossing his arms and scowling.

"Hey!" Sokka protested. "I'm not the one who suggested we drank whiskey." He pointed dramatically at Toph. "Where did you learn to drink like that anyway!?"

Toph shrugged. "Earth Rumble after parties."

"Guys, I think everyone's tired and feeling ill. We shouldn't fight with each other," Aang suggested.

"Sure thing, Twinkletoes, but these two are particularly snappy today," Toph stated dryly. "Why _is_ that?"

Zuko and Katara paused, flushing red. Toph felt their hearts, which had begun to calm down once the chase was over, hammering violently in their chests again.

Katara turned to her brother. "Sokka…"

She wanted to close the small gap between them to crawl into her brother's arms. She so badly wanted to hug Sokka, and have him make her problems go away.

Katara took a deep breath, telling herself that she wasn't a little girl anymore; she couldn't wish and cry her mistakes away. That wasn't how the world worked. She had to face that she and Zuko had messed up, and she had to do that by admitting what had happened.

It was easier to admit the truth to Sokka from across the small distance; Katara wouldn't be able to handle it if he cringed away from her in rejection. Everyone waited in tense silence while Katara stared at Sokka, and then looked down at her hands in defeat.

"Me and Zuko got married," Katara admitted quietly. She looked back up at Sokka, gingerly waving her left hand at him as proof.

"What!?" Sokka's voice screeched into the sky.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Thank you so much for the reviews, they have all been wonderful encouragement! My friend has very kindly edited the grammar in my previous chapters so I've updated them (I don't know if people following the story get a notification about that or not, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.) I hope you enjoy it & review!

* * *

In hindsight, telling Sokka the news in a confined space, hundreds of feet in the air, maybe hadn't been the best idea.

Sokka spluttered as he gesticulated wildly between Katara and Zuko, furiously searching to make sense of his little sister's announcement. His mouth opened and closed like a fish while he stared at Katara and Zuko.

"You married my little sister?" Sokka finally shouted at Zuko. "I take back what I said last night! YOU ARE NOT A PRETTY COOL GUY."

Toph shot her arm in front of Sokka as a precaution to keep him from throwing himself at Zuko. "Try not to do anything stupid, Snoozles. We don't need you acting rashly and someone accidentally falling off Appa."

Katara couldn't help but imagine scenarios where Sokka leapt across to attack Zuko; each one ended with Zuko being thrown overboard, or Zuko dodging and Sokka stupidly falling over himself.

Sokka looked back to Katara. "How long has this been going on for?!" His face suddenly twisted into an expression of horror. "Are you two in love?" He asked, appalled.

"No! Sokka! It's not like that at all!" Katara pleaded. "It was an accident."

"How do you accidentally marry someone?" Toph asked sceptically.

"Alcohol," was Zuko's response.

Everyone sat in silence, taking the news in. Toph was the first to recover.

"So are you Mr and Mrs Sparky or Mr and Mrs Sugar Queen?" She smirked.

Zuko pulled the marriage certificate, now more than a little crumpled, out of his shirt. "Technically, we're Mr and Mrs Sparky Sugar Queen."

"How would you like it if I married _your_ sister?!" Sokka cried in outrage. Images of Azula running around with her blue fire whilst cackling evilly suddenly flashed through his head. "Never mind."

Katara glared over at Zuko. "What is wrong with you? You're not helping!" She hissed at him. "Wait, we put your name first?"

She snatched the paper out of his hands, looking down at it in a disgruntled manner.

No matter how hard she tried, in the cramped saddle, she couldn't escape Sokka's gaze. She looked up from the document, and her eyes met Sokka's confused and disappointed stare.

"It would help if someone could remember exactly what happened last night," Sokka eventually said.

Collectively, the group tried to piece the night together. They all remembered the start of the evening, discreetly sitting in a booth in the corner and chatting.

Zuko remembered Sokka dancing; the tavern had had a band playing music in the background, and Sokka had drunkenly swayed and bounced along to the songs. His dancing was described by Toph at one point as "reminiscent of a beached whale-shark flapping about on land". Sokka most definitely did not have the waterbending grace of his sister.

Sokka mentioned how he remembered Aang pulling Toph out to dance as well, earning him a punch on the arm from the younger girl.

"Ow!" Sokka whined, rubbing his arm where Toph whacked him before Katara cut in with her own memories of the night

She told the group that she remembered Sokka and Zuko buddying up. Sokka countered with his recollection of Katara then trying to get between them. Zuko didn't mention how he recalled Katara no longer focusing on Sokka after a while, and instead talking and laughing with _him_. Sokka also chimed in by saying that he and Katara had even managed to laugh with Zuko about his bad ideas during the time he spent chasing the group.

"Wait, wait! You had that ponytail too!" Katara had giggled at him, before Zuko drunkenly corrected her.

"It's called a Phoenix Plume."

"And you were super pale, Zuko. _Freakishly_ pale," Sokka then added. It was the last piece of conversation everyone remembered, and after that there were very few specifics.

From their group discussion it seemed Zuko and Toph had handled their alcohol better as their memories of the night went the furthest. Toph could remember that, at one point, Zuko and Katara had returned to the group to announce that they were married. The group had celebrated to the news, and Toph recalled Sokka shouting something about finally having a brother in the family.

Sokka blushed at Toph's story, and Zuko grimaced; they were certainly not celebrating after hearing the news the second time round. But when pressed for more details, Toph shrugged and admitted that she couldn't remember where Zuko and Katara had disappeared off to when they separated from the group. She only knew that they came back with rings on.

Appa landed back at the Western Air Temple, where the rest of their friends had been waiting anxiously, the group's late arrival back causing them to worry. Toph and Aang filled the rest of the group in on their wild night and escape from Ash Island over lunch, while Sokka, Katara and Zuko remained quiet. As soon as the meal was over, Katara left the group, electing to spend the rest of the day doing laundry a faraway corner of the temple, wanting some time to herself.

Aang had been suspiciously quiet since the news had broken. He stared off into space for most of the day, eating his dinner with a frown on his face and occasionally glancing over at Katara.

Zuko approached him cautiously after dinner.

"Aang, we can't afford to lose any more time. I think we should go over some drills before bed." Most of the group had already headed off to bed due to their leftover exhaustion from the previous night and their rude awakening in the morning.

Aang nodded glumly. "Okay, Sifu Hotman."

However, their training didn't get very far. Zuko was demonstrating a technique when, suddenly, he felt a burning sensation across his left hand.

"Argh!" He cried in agony as he looked down to see his plastic ring melting around his finger like hot wax under a flame.

He hurried towards the fountain, thrusting his hand and melting ring into the cool water. Aang hovered over him, worry clear on his face, while Zuko sat there, gritting his teeth.

"I want you to do twenty hotsquats followed by form three, and then you're done for the day. I'll supervise from here," Zuko snapped at Aang.

"I'm gonna go get Katara first," Aang said as he began to jog towards the temple.

"Fine. But twenty hotsquats when you come back!" Zuko called after him. Aang had picked up his pace, running so quickly that he left a gust of wind in his wake.

Aang quickly returned with Katara to find that Zuko had managed to remove the melted ring from his finger. A red welt was beginning to blister where the ring had been branded into his skin.

Katara had followed Aang, not wanting to heal Zuko's hand and half-expecting there to be nothing there to heal really. However, from what she could see of the welt in the dim light, it looked bloody and painful. No matter how mad she was at Zuko, she wasn't the kind of person who was going to force someone to suffer because of her own personal grudge.

Aang set to work on his hotsquats while Katara pulled Zuko away from the fountain and towards the campfire so that she could examine the wound more closely. She sat down next to him, bringing a bucket of water with her. Gingerly, she held his palm in her hands while she turned it over so she could clearly see the mark.

She removed one of her hands so she could bend some water from the bucket into the air, It hovered above Zuko's hand while Katara met his gaze.

"I need you to understand something," Katara said, her voice quiet but firm. "It doesn't matter if we're married. I don't _have_ to accept or trust you now because the only thing that matters is ending the war and achieving peace. I'm going to make sure that Aang is there to defeat the Fire Lord. I don't care if officially you're my husband, if you change your mind and change side again, I will end you before I let you get in the way again."

It was the first time since Ba Sing Se that she had talked to him whilst sober without a hint of hatred or bitterness in her voice. She spoke slowly but surely, and her expression almost conveyed pity as she watched his reaction.

Zuko understood what she was saying and nodded reluctantly, his expression neutral. She maintained eye contact with him and he tried not to notice how the light from the crackling fire somehow made the blue in her iris even more vivid than usual.

He suddenly remembered how she had looked at him the night before. Sokka had disappeared to get them more whisky, leaving them alone together. Someone had stumbled into the back of Zuko, making him trip forward slightly and causing him to accidentally invade Katara's space. Normally, Zuko would have spun around to yell at whoever had fallen on him, but he was entranced by the look on Katara's face. She had stared up at him with her big blue eyes, half-surprised and half-curious. Zuko had cast a glance at Katara's lips and she had tilted her face up towards him slightly. The two had leaned in, almost close enough to share a breath, when Sokka had returned with their drinks, not realising he was interrupting something even when they jumped apart. Katara had smiled across at Zuko afterwards, trying not snicker at his visibly disappointed reaction.

She was not smiling now. "As far as I'm concerned, Zuko we're not really married. I won't let this distract me."

She held her hands over Zuko's, the water beginning to glow as she bent her head in concentration and leaned in to heal the mark on his finger.

Zuko pulled his hand away, and Katara looked up at him in surprise as he stood up and took a step back.

"What are you doing? It's going to scar," Katara said, frowning.

"I understand that the war is more important than an accidental marriage," Zuko said sharply. "But I'm not going to change sides, and it's not just some distraction. Living in denial isn't going to solve anything, Katara," He stormed off, heading towards the eastern wing to clear his head. His uninjured hand curled into a fist by his side as he clenched the smouldered ring into his palm.

Zuko wished that Katara could understand that just because he was willing to accept that their marriage was real, it didn't mean that he was happy about it. As the prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko wasn't exactly allowed to just go around randomly marrying peasant girls from another nation.

It had been told to him from a young age that Zuko was expected to marry the kind of girl that was acceptable to be part of Azula's entourage. He was lucky that he wasn't already part of an arranged marriage, and, as such, not already engaged to anyone. But that didn't mean Katara would immediately be accepted as his wife when he returned.

The future Fire Lady typically had to be approved by the Fire Court, which almost always happened; but if Zuko put Katara forward for that title, he wasn't sure that they would accept a foreigner as part of the royal family. The public of Fire Nation might also reject Katara as their sovereign, if they would even still accept Zuko.

Their marriage could put his claim to the throne in jeopardy, and Zuko was afraid to admit that his rash decision could now mean that he had thrown his future as Fire Lord away. Zuko didn't want that to be true, especially not for a girl who would prefer it if he didn't even exist.

He also had to acknowledge that while had not been engaged, he hadn't been single while he was back at the Palace. Mai had been his sort of girlfriend and was the girl that he had intended on marrying one day. But that wouldn't be possible now. He had disgraced and betrayed Mai when he left home to join the Avatar's side. He had certainly never intended on getting involved with someone while he helped Aang, and the last thing he had expected from the upcoming conflict was to end up married.

But Zuko _was_ married now. And he was bound by honour to acknowledge and abide by that marriage. Which meant, for the time being, he was stuck with Katara and would somehow have to make their futures work.

Katara walked back to her room, Zuko's words twisting through her thoughts. She sat down on her bed, slowly pulling the ring off of her finger. There was no need to wear it, especially since Zuko had practically disintegrated his. Even with her finger bare, she bitterly acknowledged that she was not free or released from her problems.

She heard a knock at the door, and looked up to see Sokka standing in her doorway. He walked into her room, shutting the door behind him, and moved to sit next to her on the bed.

"Listen, Katara," Sokka said, turning to look her in the eye, "I don't like what you did, and I wish you hadn't done it. But you're still my sister, and I still love you. Always will."

The distance that Katara had felt between them when she told him the news earlier on disintegrated. Katara pulled her brother into a tight hug, and Sokka wrapped his arms around his little sister, holding her closely while she cried against his shoulder.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

I've lowered the rating to a T mainly because I don't plan on write anything dark/smutty enough for the M rating. It was M initially as I was unsure about the rating system and wanted to be on the safe side. There is the chance I'll decide to raise the rating again later on in the story, but for now it's predominately T.

* * *

Zuko opened his eyes to the growingly familiar sight of his room in the Western Air Temple. He rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling from his narrow bed, and enjoyed how the light from the newly dawned day filtered into the room through the curtains. Lying still, he could hear the gentle noises of the birds and animals that also inhabited the temple break through the silence.

Something was scratching at the back of his mind, fighting to come to the surface of his memory as he blinked himself awake. Zuko could sense his moment of morning peace was about to come to an end.

Every morning was like this, now; Zuko woke with the rising sun, the temple building quiet as everyone slept on, and he was allowed a few minutes of peace and silence. And then, every morning, he would suddenly remember and his bubble would pop.

It had been a few weeks since their drunken night, and yet it still hit him in the gut with the same sharp twist when he remembered that he had married Katara.

Zuko was sure that word would have reached Azula within the first week that he had been spotted, and he had no doubt that she would know about the wedding as well. He'd advised the group that it would be a good idea to lay low for a few weeks, as Azula or her minions were no doubt patrolling the areas around the Fire Nation coast for sightings of the Avatar and traitor prince.

It had been weeks of Katara just ignoring Zuko, regarding him with as much warmth or attention as she would a stone wall. Zuko had noticed that Katara had stopped wearing her wedding ring after the first day. He didn't push either issue, secretly hoping that she would eventually stop hating him. But with each day, Katara's resentment towards him only seemed to grow, and she found new ways of ignoring him and excluding him from the group.

He understood that he would never truly fit into the Avatar's group of friends. However, after realising that Toph's dreadful nickname for him and arm punches were displays of affection and acceptance, Zuko had deduced that Toph, Teo, and the Duke didn't seem to have a problem with him.

After his trip with Aang, the kid had followed him around the temple for days like a happy parrot-pig, constantly asking him to do the dragon dance with him and, more than once, Zuko had to tell Aang off for grinning at him too much during their training sessions. Now, Aang was noticeably more dejected around him following the Ash Island trip; Haru, too. Zuko's marriage to Katara had only isolated him further from the group.

 _Why am I so bad at being good?_ Zuko groaned to himself as his hands reached up to cover his face in embarrassment. Suddenly uncomfortable, he threw off his cover and stood up from the bed. It was time for his morning meditation, and he desperately needed to clear his head. Zuko stepped out of his room, and began walking down the corridor to the main courtyard and practise area.

The room next to his was Katara's. It had initially been the Duke's, until Katara had suggested after Zuko's first night that the Duke should switch rooms with her so that he could be closer to Teo's room. This put Katara in the room in-between Zuko's and Aang's rooms, something which Zuko was fully was not a coincidence. To top it off, Katara slept with her door wide open as if she spent her nights waiting to see if Zuko would try and kidnap Aang. She had made her distrust of Zuko, especially in relation to Aang, very clear from his first day at the Western Air Temple.

Because she left her door open, Zuko always caught a glimpse of Katara sleeping peacefully in her bed when he walked past each morning. Today she was spread out on her stomach, one leg dangling off the edge of her bed, her hair a mess of curls twisting across her pillow.

Zuko kept walking towards Aang's room, and knocked loudly on the door when he arrived. It was important that he made his actions loud enough to wake Katara, or else she would accuse him of sneaking around and being suspicious.

"Time for meditation." Zuko opened the door slightly to see Aang nodding at him, bleary eyed, from his bed.

Aang had a lot of training to get through each day, so it was important for him to get an early start. Despite his years as a monk, Aang didn't wake up in the early mornings as easily as Zuko did, so it had become a routine for Zuko would to him up for meditation. Zuko walked into the courtyard and sat facing away from the temple buildings, looking out towards the edge of the cliff. A few minutes later, Aang joined him, and they sat cross-legged and breathing evenly.

It had also become a routine for Katara to get up when she heard Zuko waking Aang. She didn't supervise Aang's training with Zuko, but she was noticeably around, even when she was at a distance. Zuko knew it was because Katara didn't trust him. He knew that. And yet, even though Zuko didn't want to admit it, even to himself, he sort of liked that Katara insisted on getting up at the early hours.

And the hours really were early. The Western Air Temple was located in the northern hemisphere, and in the summer months the days were noticeably longer; the sun set late into the evening, and would rise only a couple of hours later. This was Zuko's favourite time of year; he was filled with an endless amount of energy from the extra hours of sunlight.

It was always quiet in the morning. Aang and Zuko would sit in their silent meditation, and Katara would busy herself with work whilst everyone else slept. Zuko preferred it when it was quiet; it was harder for Katara to ignore him when there were fewer people around, and it was easier for him to steal glances at her during the training practise without having to worry that anyone would notice.

In the morning, the first thing Katara would do was fetch water from the well. She would generally clean and tidy the place for the day, sweeping away any mess from the previous night. Then she would make a start on any laundry that needed doing, and hang it up before using her bending to pull the water from the clothes in order to speed up the drying process. After an hour or two had passed and the boys had stopped meditating and begun practising forms, Katara would start making breakfast for the group.

Often while Katara moved about, she would always make sure to keep a watchful eye over Aang's training with Zuko. She couldn't help but feel the need to keep warily checking them out of the corner of her eye every now and then. Katara didn't trust Zuko with Aang, even though now she was, regretfully, married to him. The betrayal of Ba Sing Se still sat like a knot in her stomach, and she would need to look to Aang for the reassurance that he was alive and safe.

"Katara! Katara! Watch this!" Aang would yell when he got the hang of a new-technique that he was proud of, with enough force to wake up the entire population of the air temple. Katara would look over, watching and complimenting Aang's technique, while Zuko would give him criticism and make Aang run through it again.

"You have to be ready," He told the Avatar. "There can't be any room for error. Let's do it again, but with more ferocity."

Katara would be forced to notice how Zuko took his training with Aang incredibly seriously, pushing almost as hard as Toph had in the beginning. It wasn't an approach Aang particularly enjoyed, but even Katara had to admit that they didn't have enough time for Aang to learn firebending at a gentle pace.

"Is that breakfast?" Aang asked enthusiastically. "Zuko, can we break yet?"

"Not yet," Zuko replied gruffly, turning away from Katara as a silent dismissal of her to leave and stop distracting Aang. Katara glared at his back and stalked away.

When the morning sun had fully risen, the boys would often disregard their shirts during their training in the warm weather. Katara would try not to notice how broad Zuko's shoulders were, or how strong his arms looked, and she would most certainly try not to look at the pale muscles of his abs. Katara turned back to the breakfast and tried not to think of how he had reacted when she had told him that she would not let the marriage change anything. She also wished that she could ignore how, in the weeks since then, he had respectfully given her space.

Katara did not feel married; she only felt confused. She knew it was a real marriage, and that no amount of pretending was going to fix her mistake or make the marriage disappear. But she wasn't _ready_ to accept that she was married, and she certainly wasn't ready to act like she was married. It just wasn't fair. Katara didn't want to be married! She had decided to put off accepting her circumstances for as long as possible.

Katara had fallen for Zuko's act before, and it had stung bitterly when she found out she was wrong about him. She refused to be wrong again, to let her feelings blind her. Katara had decided that it was safer for herself, the group, and or the fate of the world that she kept her guard up around Zuko.

"Morning, Sis," Sokka mumbled as he walked over to Katara to survey the breakfast. "Morning Aang. Jerkbender," he called out to the two firebenders.

Usually between the combination of Aang's shouting and the serving of breakfast, everyone else began to get up for the day.

After breakfast, Toph would quickly go over earthbending drills with Aang, or Katara would run through some waterbending practise with him before he went back to firebending training for the rest of the day. With time running out, it was important Aang's training rotated between his three teachers to make sure he would be well prepared in with all elements for the fight to come. As Zuko had pointed out, he would need to spend most of his time doing firebending training as it was his weakest element.

"How'd you sleep, Zuko? Marry anyone last night?" Zuko had been subjected to many jokes like this in the past few weeks. He swallowed back his retort, aware that Sokka's jokes were probably his coping mechanism for the odd situation.

Zuko had noticed that Katara, aside from hunting for food or firewood, did nearly all of the chores around the camp. Zuko had taken it upon himself to be the one to make tea for the group. This was partly because, after months of working in a tea-shop with Iroh, he enjoyed brewing tea, but also because Katara made terrible tea. Zuko was afraid to insult her tea-making skills outright, but also couldn't bear to chug down another cup of the awful stuff.

After breakfast, Zuko made the mistake of collecting all of the dishes and depositing them into the bucket to be cleaned before Katara did.

"What are you doing?" She asked suspiciously.

"Clearing away the dishes. I was going to wash them."

"Why? I can do it faster with my waterbending."

Zuko shrugged. Zuko didn't enjoy doing the dishes, but he occasionally found there was something oddly therapeutic about the task.

Katara glared at him. "Stop it! You can't just sneak the marriage onto me by helping do the dishes! That's not how trust works!" She ranted.

"What? I am not sneaking the marriage onto you, I'm just washing up! There is no sneaking! We're already married, whether you care to admit it or not," Zuko hissed back.

"That doesn't mean we have to _act_ like we're married, that's the part you're trying to sneak in!"

"I'm not sneaking! I was just going to do the dishes. Why is that so awful of me? That I wanted to help and I don't want you to hate me?" Zuko shouted.

Katara stared at him in shock. She looked appalled that he had revealed that he didn't want her to hate him, and Zuko couldn't understand why. He stormed off in frustration, and proceeded to avoid her for the rest of the day.

Zuko couldn't sleep. Every time he tried to drift off, his mind wandered back to his predicament with Katara and their most recent argument. Zuko had grown up watching his parents' loveless marriage, and the idea of resigning himself to a life of that with Katara filled him with dread. Why was she insisting on making the whole thing so much more difficult?

Zuko guessed it was because she still felt betrayed from the events of Ba Sing Se. But the others were slowly beginning to trust him, so why couldn't she?

Flinging off the covers, Zuko silently slipped out of his room and into the corridor. Like a ghost, he drifted down the hall as quietly as possible, passing Katara's room where, thankfully, she slept, snoring loudly.

His plan had been to pace around the courtyard and the western wing until he felt tired; maybe he would meditate as well, just to clear his head. However, his plans were forgotten when he heard someone stumble behind the fountain and quietly curse.

He rushed over, readying a ball of flame in his palm to strike at the potential intruder.

"Sokka?" To Zuko's utter surprise, the Watertribe boy was trying to collect his scrolls and maps back into his arms. The flame in his hand faded. "What are you doing?"

"Uh nothing. What are you doing?" Sokka lied unconvincingly. He straightened up to look at Zuko, his arms full of paper. Zuko stared at him, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"That doesn't look like nothing," Zuko said.

"I, uh, just wanted to go over the plan, you know?" Sokka babbled. "Couldn't sleep until I knew it was, uh, a good plan. You should go back to bed." He started backing away from Zuko.

"Sokka, what are you really doing?" Zuko stepped forward, glaring at Sokka sternly.

"I want to go save my dad," Sokka admitted, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "I know we're supposed to be keeping a low-profile, but I've waited for weeks, and Sozin's comet is fast approaching. I can't just keep sitting around while my dad sits in prison."

"Sokka…" Zuko began, but Sokka cut him off, his voice low and urgent.

"Look, Zuko. I know you want Katara to trust you, so you're going to feel like you have to tell her where I went, but she'll only be mad if she finds out that you let me go, so it's just smarter if you don't say anything about seeing me leave, ok?"

"Sokka, there is no way I'm just going to let you leave," Zuko argued. "I'm coming with you."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

I didn't want to write out the Boiling Rock episodes word for word so I've had a go at altering the settings slightly, I hope you like it!

* * *

"So where is your Dad being held? Do you know?" Zuko had asked Sokka as they packed supplies into Appa's saddle. Zuko was initially against bringing the sky bison, but, as Sokka had pointed out, Appa was the fastest way to get out of a bad situation.

After Sokka admitted that he didn't actually _know_ where his Dad was being held, Zuko had been instantly glad that he'd intercepted the trip – his help was clearly going to be needed. However, Zuko was also incredibly worried about what he had signed up for with this unexpected trip.

Zuko, after much thought, had suggested that Hakoda might be at the high-security prison called the Boiling Rock; the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe would be an important political prisoner of war, after all. However, Zuko warned Sokka that the prison was supposed to be impenetrable.

"Where had you planned to go?" Zuko asked Sokka once the water tribe boy had blinked at the revelation that Zuko may know where Hakoda was. "Surely you weren't just going to wander around until you got captured and they put Appa in bison day-care?"

"It's stupid," Sokka had sighed in response. "The first part of my plan was to sneak into the Fire Nation Archives and find their prison records to see where my Dad is."

Zuko's mouth dropped open in surprise. After a few seconds of silence, Zuko nodded slowly.

"Sokka… that's a great idea. It's going to be tough to get into the archives, and it might alert the prison authorities if they work out what we're doing, but if we can go unnoticed then it'll be much smarter than breaking into a high-security prison on a guess." Zuko had moved to sit at the top of Appa's head, taking hold of the reigns. "Come on, there's no time to waste. Let's go. Yip yip!"

Sokka had found the Archives marked on their Fire Nation map, near to the Fire Nation Capital. Using his navigation skills they flew Appa and arrived at the Prisoner Archives sooner than they expected to. As Prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko had toured the main building and the Prison Archives during his brief time back home after Ba Sing Se. Once the pair were on the ground, Zuko used his memory of the place to navigate them through the grounds and buildings. The Archives were a small building located near the Fire Nation's main and largest prison which held records for all of the prisons located in the Fire Nation. They waited for nightfall before sneaking into the Archives building during the change of the guard.

Once they were in, Zuko immediately searched for the building's standard issue locker room, where he knew that staff would leave uniforms. After a few moments of frantic searching, he found it and, once Sokka had joined him, the pair quickly changed into Fire Nation guard uniforms which had been hung up in a locker which had been far too easy to break into. As stealthily as they could, they had snuck towards the offices where the most recent prison records would be held.

Rummaging through the office, the pair found tall cabinets where the information about the political prisoners were kept, and Zuko and Sokka began their search.

There was a surprisingly high number prisoners. Luckily, the files were categorized first by the prisoner's original nation and then by alphabetical names, helping them to narrow down the search for Hakoda, but it still took the boys longer than anticipated to search through the files for the one they were looking for.

"I found the Southern WaterTribe files! Ah here we go - Hakoda, Chief." Zuko pulled the file out of the drawer and flipped it open. "Sokka, get over here!" He whispered. Sokka moved over to Zuko, grabbing the file from the Fire Prince's hands.

"He's being moved?" Sokka read out loud, looking at Zuko in confusion. "Why?"

Zuko took the file back, rifling through it before pulling out another document.

"Look, here's a copy of the transfer request. There's a list of prisoners being moved from the Boiling Rock because some prisoners recently managed to escape. There's something about a few firebenders using the cool chamber as an escape pod across the prison's lake." Zuko paused as both he and Sokka momentarily admired the ingenuity of such an escape, before continuing to read aloud. "Security at the Boiling Rock has been deemed as unsatisfactory and a liability. These prisoners are top priority, and I will be transferring them into my watch at the late Admiral Zhao's former military and training base. Oh shit. _Shit_."

"What!?" Sokka asked in alarm.

"The request is signed from Princess Azula, the heir to the Fire Nation Throne. Nice to know they've cut me out of line, then."

"Crap. When's the transfer? Has it already happened?"

"The transfer will take place on… _Damn it._ Sokka, the move is already underway; they'll reach the transfer point by the morning after next."

"Can we make it in time to intercept them?"

"We can try," Zuko said determinedly.

Quietly, they put the files away to remove any evidence or trace that they had been there. Then they snuck back out of the Archives, trying to navigate their way back out of the building as stealthily as possible.

"Oh good. You're already here." A guard spotted them and, together with another guard, started to walk over to them slowly. Sokka and Zuko braced themselves, waiting to see what their next move would be. "This shift felt like the longest one ever tonight," the guard continued. "We're glad you're here early. Enjoy your watch, I'm ready to go home."

Sokka and Zuko stared at each other, relieved that with the helmet covering most of their faces, they'd been mistaken for the guards for the latest night shift.

"Uh, yep. We were just about to start with a quick patrol of the premises," Zuko lied hastily as he and Sokka tried to walk away.

"Suit yourself. Li got pretty pissy at me last time I patrolled on the same watch as him, so I'd avoid his quadrant on the east side," the second guard advised.

"Ugh, Li's on duty tonight? Fucking hate that guy," Sokka groaned.

The guards chuckled and walked away, leaving Sokka and Zuko to walk slowly on their "patrol". They waited for the guards to disappear from view before they made their way to Appa and safety.

They both sighed in relief as they took off into the sky, hidden by the dark night and thick clouds, keeping the guard uniforms on in case of unexpected interception.

"That was close," Sokka laughed to himself quietly as the adrenaline began to wear off. "This plan is going great! We're gonna rescue my dad!"

"I wish there was time to go back to the gang and get reinforcements," Zuko sighed. "Those Archives were almost too easy. We don't know how heavily guarded the ship is going to be."

"I know," Sokka replied. "But there isn't time, and I can't afford to lose this chance. I'm sure they just weren't expecting us to think of the Archives."

It took the rest of the night and a full day to reach the area they hoped to intercept the ship in. As they neared the area, the pair made sure to take it in turns to sleep whilst the other kept an eye out for the ship. Sokka had charted out the ship's likely route, and had been trying to navigate their way through the clouds while Zuko slept.

Zuko woke from his nap to see his companion staring out across the sea with a fiercely determined look on his face.

"Everything alright?" He asked. Sokka answered with a gruff "yeah", and Zuko was prepared to drop the subject when Sokka continued to speak.

Sokka's voice was low and rough. "Actually, no," he said. "I'm nervous - I'm afraid we might fail. Without Katara or Toph or Aang…" He looked over at Zuko, but avoided eye contact; eventually he looked away altogether. "I can't fail my dad again, not like the day of the Black Sun."

Zuko paused, trying to think of what his Uncle would say to help Sokka. He took a breath, and attempted words of wisdom.

"Look Sokka, you're going to fail _a lot_ before things work out."

Sokka looked over at him, no longer hanging his head in shame. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Zuko carried on. "Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again-"

"Seriously, not helping!"

Zuko reached forward, putting his hand on Sokka's shoulder.

"You have to try every time," Zuko insisted. "You can't quit because you're afraid you might fail."

A look of sadness washed over Sokka as he remembered having to abandon his father and tribesmen, but he nodded, knowing that Zuko was right.

"Thanks. I understand what you're trying to say. I think," Sokka said. They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Sokka spoke again. "So," he said, clearly making an attempt at small talk. "Did you have any anyone special back home before you came to the temple and, uh… you know?"

Zuko nodded.

"I was… sort of seeing someone. Mai - you've met her."

"The gloomy one?" Sokka asked, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"Yeah," Zuko sighed. "What about you?"

"My first girlfriend turned into the moon," Sokka responded dejectedly. Zuko regretted asking.

"Ah," Zuko was unsure if he should pat Sokka on the shoulder or something; instead, he stayed sitting awkwardly across from him. "That's rough, buddy."

Sokka nodded, looking back out at the sea as another silence fell between them.

"The thing with Mai - it wasn't serious. And it doesn't really matter now anyway, because I'm committed to your sister," Zuko felt compelled to add. Sokka continued to stare at out the ocean below them, but nodded again slowly.

"Zuko, you should know that even if Katara refuses to admit that you two are married now, I can recognize that it's real," Sokka said. "She's going to have to face that sooner or later, too. In all honesty, I'd prefer sooner, because we can't afford for her to have a breakdown right before the comet. But yeah, no matter why you two ended up stuck together - thank you for trying to honour it."

Zuko couldn't help but feel the tiniest spark of hope swell inside his chest. It was more acceptance than he had ever thought he would receive from one of the Water Tribe siblings. "Thanks, man."

Sokka shrugged. "And I'll kill you if you hurt her," he added, giving Zuko a menacing stare.

The two fell into a mostly comfortable silence as Appa continued to float along the plotted course. The sun had just begun to set when Sokka exclaimed "I see it! I see a ship!"

Zuko pulled out his binocular spy glass to see where Sokka was pointing. It definitely _looked_ like a ship to transport prisoners. They followed from a far distance, partly to check the ship was following the course, but also because they were waiting for it to be dark enough that Appa could approach the ship without being seen.

When the sky darkened, it was a mere matter of landing Appa on the deck of the ship, using the bison as a distraction to draw the attention of the handful of guards that they came across while Sokka sneaked behind to knock them out in a sneak attack. Sokka swiped a set of keys off one of the now unconscious guards, and the pair quickly ran below deck.

There were more cells than they had anticipated. And, to Sokka and Zuko's despair, they weren't marked with prisoner names or I.D numbers.

"How do we know which cell he's in?" Zuko hissed once they had knocked out the two guards on duty, a small ball of flame burning in his palm to light up the dark room.

Sokka stared at the blank cell doors, frowning, and then suddenly started moving from cell to cell, peeking in through the slot in each door.

"Hakoda?" He whispered into each cell, aware that just calling "Dad" into a cell wouldn't achieve much.

Zuko followed suit on the other side of the corridor, asking more respectfully for a "Chief Hakoda". For each cell they checked that didn't have Hakoda in, they woke up another prisoner, drawing attention to themselves. Chatter was beginning to rise in the hallway as people called back in confusion.

Sokka stopped at a cell suddenly, peering in closer as he recognised the auburn haired girl who was staring at him in confusion.

"Suki?" He asked in surprise. "Suki!" Sokka fumbled with the keys before successfully unlocking the door, flinging himself inside and at Suki.

Zuko watched as Suki did not respond well to the boy in Fire Nation prison uniform throwing himself at her. She dived out of the way, coming behind Sokka and pushing his face into a wall of her cell.

"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed at Sokka.

"Suki, it's me, Sokka!" Sokka pleaded with his cheek pressed against the wall.

"Sokka?!" Her grip loosened as she stepped back surprise.

Zuko could hear Appa's call of distress from the deck above, and he guessed that more guards had woken up and were aware of their presence on board. What he didn't know at the time was that he wasn't the only one to hear Appa's calls; Azula had been on a ship nearby, returning from a false sighting of her brother, when she spotted the prisoner transfer ship she had requested with the large air bison on board.

"We've got to go! Come on, me and Zuko are breaking you and my dad out!" Sokka told Suki.

"Prince Zuko? You two are friends now?" Suki asked sceptically.

"Real friends don't marry their friend's sisters by accident," Sokka grumbled. "But he's good now, you can trust him."

The chatter in the cells was reaching a distracting level as the prisoners went from calling out the guards to calling out to each other and shouting in general. Zuko knew that more guards would be arriving any second now, and they still hadn't found Hakoda's cell. He moved closer to Sokka to warn him of this, muttering a quick 'hi' in Suki's direction as he did so. She glared back at him; Zuko had become accustomed to being glared at thanks to Katara, but he was still surprised by the girl's apparent resentment.

"You two know already know each other?" Sokka asked in confusion, picking up on Suki's hostility as well.

"Last time we met you were burning down my village," Suki sneered.

"Oh. Um, sorry about that. Nice to see you again," Zuko mumbled, his face flushing red. "Sokka we need to get moving now!"

Zuko could hear guards coming down the stairs. "I'm gonna go hold them off, keep looking for your father," he said, increasing the flame in his hand in preparation. "If it looks like we're not going to make it out of this, I want you to blend in with the other guards and attack me, ok? Better that only I get captured than both of us."

Sokka shook his head in horror.

"We don't have time to argue about this," Zuko snapped. "Blend in if you have to!" Zuko didn't give Sokka or Suki a chance to respond before running off to face the guards. Suki followed suit; she had a bone to pick with more than a few of the guards on the ship.

Sokka, however, ran towards the next cell, looking in and not seeing his father. He could hear the sounds of Zuko and Suki fighting as he ran to another cell.

"Azula?!" He heard Zuko shout in surprise.

"Crap," Sokka cursed. Had Azula always been on the ship, or had she just arrived with her own personal army of guards? If he unlocked his father and they failed to get off the ship, then they would all end up locked away, with security increased around Hakoda. But what if he ran now and they _did_ get off the ship? Sokka would have abandoned his father, and yet again failed to save him. But maybe it would be smarter to cut his losses and leave now while they still could.

Sokka stared at the corridor of cells. He'd nearly reached the end, and there was still no sign of his father. He had spent weeks thinking that maybe everyone would have been better off if he had known to cut his losses earlier on the day of the invasion. But then Sokka remembered what Zuko had said earlier about not being afraid of failing.

" _Crap_ ," he repeated as he began running towards the deck. He had failed, Sokka knew in his gut that they had failed. He needed more time on the ship to find his father, which meant they were going to have to make the best of the situation.

He ran up the stairs, joining the fray in the dark night. He spotted Suki sparring against several guards, though he could see that she was outnumbered. He could see Appa, tied up by several guards who were struggling to maintain their hold over him. As Sokka turned to assess the rest of the situation, he realised that Azula's ship had stopped next to theirs, and that she was beginning to cross onto their ship. She hadn't waited to start her attack, however; she was already throwing blue fireballs at Zuko from where she stood. Zuko dodged her attacks whilst fending off his own set of guards, clearly put off by his sister's impending presence.

Sokka rushed forward, preparing to tackle Zuko to prove his identity as a prison guard. Zuko looked over, a look of understanding and regret flashing across his face. As Sokka was about to make contact, Zuko struck him hard in the jaw. Sokka stumbled back in surprise, his head knocking against the inside of his helmet as he fell to the ground. He had no time to react before the black swam before his eyes and he passed out.

Zuko felt bad about hitting Sokka, he really did, but he knew that with Sokka's blue eyes and loud mouth, he'd blend in more as a guard who'd been knocked unconscious during a fight than a non-firebender who'd managed to successfully defeat Zuko.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko saw that Suki had been seized by several guards whilst Azula boarded the ship. He met his sister's gaze and moved into a fighting stance, preparing for battle. With his momentary distraction, Zuko failed to see the guards behind him. Several of them rushed at him simultaneously, successfully tackling him to the ground.

Azula sauntered over as they clamped metal restraints to Zuko's hands, securing them behind his back. He lifted his chin from the ground to glare at her.

"I'm surprised to see you here all alone, brother," Azula grinned. "Where are your new friends? In fact, where is your wife? I hear congratulations are in order."

Zuko seethed under the chains binding him as he tried to force himself off of the ground. He figured that the details in the report about his sighting on Ash Island had probably included his wedding with Katara, but the menacing tone to Azula's voice when she referred to Katara made Zuko furious. There was a toxic edge to her usual cold and calculating voice, mocking him for marrying a peasant from an enemy nation. But Zuko was furious because he suddenly felt like a fool, because he had failed to realise sooner just how much danger their marriage put Katara in. Zuko could hear in Azula's voice that Katara would never be safe now.

"I'm here alone. They sent me because I'm dispensable to them," Zuko bit out.

"Oh no, don't tell me the honeymoon period is already over?" Azula mocked. "And what did you come here to do, rescue some random peasant?" She gestured at Suki, who'd been put into metal restraints as well.

Zuko glared back at his sister. He knew it was fairly obvious why he had come to the prison ship, and that he'd failed to retrieve Hakoda. He considered lying about how Suki was the only prisoner that he had come for, but decided that Azula would either instantly know he was lying or trick more information out of him. Years of living with Azula had taught Zuko that silence was the safest answer.

"Pity, we used to have such wonderful chats, Zuzu. Oh well, you'll make a nice addition to my group of prisoners, now." Azula sighed melodramatically. "Guards, escort these two back to the cells."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

* * *

"Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?" Sokka asked his father as they sat side by side on the floor of a dark and cramped prison cell. Hakoda was dressed in the prisoner uniform of a simple red tunic and matching pants, whilst Sokka still wore his prison guard disguise.

"Bad news," Hakoda replied grimly.

"Well, uh, we came to rescue you," Sokka began. "'We' being Zuko and I – well, technically _Prince_ Zuko, as he's the prince of the Fire Nation. But he's on our side now, so it's fine! Anyway, our plan sort of failed and he got captured during the rescue attempt because his psychotic sister arrived on board the ship and, well, he's probably being tortured for the information about the Avatar as we speak," Sokka babbled.

Hakoda sat in silence, giving his son a quizzical look whilst absorbing the information.

"Son, do you trust him?" Hakoda asked after a moment. "You're sure this wasn't the plan all along, to reunite Zuko with his family and give the Avatar's location to his sister?"

Sokka shook his head firmly. "I felt the same about him at first too," he said, "After all he's done… it was hard to trust him. But I'm sure this isn't a trick." Sokka gave his father a small grin. "He deserves to be rescued too."

Hakoda nodded slowly. "What's the good news?"

"Oh! Uh, well, _I_ haven't been captured! I'm disguised as a guard, and so far, so they don't know that I'm here. And I overheard one of the other guards complaining that they don't have the necessary chains and room to lock Appa away properly, so, we still have a chance to escape."

"Alright, so what's the plan?"

Sokka hugged his knees, letting out a sigh.

"We had one, but now i don't know how we're all going to get out of here with Azula nearby."

"Sokka," Hakoda said, reaching over to place a hand on his son's shoulder, "there is no prison in the world that can hold two WaterTribe geniuses."

"Then we better find two," Sokka grumbled, causing Hakoda to let out a hearty chuckle.

"Come on, son, we'll figure something out."

Sokka looked up at his father, a smile playing on his face at his father's confident tone. With a nod of his head, Sokka began to explain his initial escape plan to Hakoda.

* * *

While the pair began to work out their escape route, Zuko had been tied tied to a chair in a cell of his own.

The Warden loomed over him, his thin face cut with high cheekbones and a sharp jawline. He didn't wear a prison guard mask, instead donning a gold and red headband decorated with the emblem of the Fire Nation. The Warden threatened to throw Zuko around the room during his interrogation in an attempt to shake him.

The Warden told him constantly that he didn't care that Zuko had been a born prince; he was a traitor now, worse than a banished prince, and the Warden treated all Fire Nation traitors the same.

"You will talk, Prince Zuko. Maybe not to me, but you will talk. In fact, there's a lady here who'd like to speak with you," The Warden cackled. He knocked on the back of the cell door and, as the guards opened it, stepped outside.

Zuko braced himself for the arrival of his smug sister. He was momentarily stunned when, in the Warden's place, Mai strode into view. She wore her usual mask of indifference; her mouth was set in a grim line, her face was pinched, and her eyes looked simultaneously alert and bored. She glared at Zuko as she stood before him; at least Zuko could understand why _Mai_ was giving him evils.

"Fancy seeing you here," Mai commented dryly as she stood by the door, a scroll clenched in her fist.

"Mai…" Zuko said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"All I get is a letter?" Mai stepped forward, extending her arm to let the paper unroll as she pushed it in front of his face. "You could have at least looked me in the eye when you ripped out my heart."

"I didn't mean to –" Zuko began to protest.

"You didn't _mean_ to?" Mai began to pace around the room as she read the letter in her hands. " _Dear Mai, I'm sorry that you have to find out this way, but I'm leaving_."

"Stop!" Zuko snapped. "This isn't about you. This is about the Fire Nation."

Mai threw the scroll at the back of his head.

"Thanks Zuko, that makes me feel _all_ better," She replied sarcastically as she walked around to face him again. Mai crossed her arms over her chest as she glared daggers at him. "I hear you got married."

Zuko wanted to tell Mai that the wedding had been an accident, that he hadn't _intended_ on just dropping her like that. He wanted to say that _she_ was the girl he thought he would marry one day; that is, if she would have forgiven him once the war ended for leaving her so abruptly. But Zuko knew that it would be dishonourable to the girl he had married and the marriage itself to talk about it like that, even if Katara was being petty and dishonourable about it herself.

"Yes," was all he said instead, guessing that Mai wanted to hear him confirm it.

"To the watertribe peasant?" she asked coldly.

"Yes."

"Then I suppose it's no coincidence that you attacked the Fire Nation ship which has her father on board," Mai said, rolling the scroll back up and gripping it tightly.

"Well, you worked it out faster than the Warden." Zuko attempted to pay her a compliment; he knew denying it would be useless.

"The Warden is my uncle."

Zuko grimaced; he'd forgotten that. Typical.

"So why didn't the chief's children come with you? Seems pretty odd that they wouldn't try to help. Maybe you're not actually here alone," Mai continued to speculate.

"It's a test," Zuko lied. "If I come back with their father, they'll finally trust me."

"There are two flaws in that," Mai said, her voice flat. "Firstly, why wouldn't your wife already trust you if she married you? Secondly, if they don't trust you, why would they let you escape when you could tell everyone where they are? Aren't they worried you'll betray them?" Mai's voice lingered on the word betray, a reminder that Zuko now had a history of letting people down.

"I'm sure you already know the real story of how I got married, he replied coldly. "And it doesn't matter if I give them up, they've eluded capture dozens of times thanks to their earthbender's senses."

"So you care enough to do their life threatening test, just to win their trust?" Mai asked sceptically.

Yes," Zuko said, earning an eye-roll from Mai.

"Well, they'll realise soon enough you can't be trusted."

"Mai, I never wanted to hurt you. But I have to do this to save my country!" Zuko insisted. "It's the right side to be on. They can bring peace to the world and save thousands of lives."

" _Save_ your country? You're betraying it!"

"That's not how I see it," Zuko replied as Mai turned away from him, scowling at the floor. "Where's Azula? Why did she send you?" he asked.

"To humiliate us both, as usual. I'm sure she just wanted me to get 'closure' or something." Mai knocked on the door, signalling that their session was over. "Azula doesn't want to see you again; she said it was a waste of her time." Mai walked out of the room without a backwards glance.

Zuko sat, waiting bitterly for the Warden's return, and tried to think about how they were going to get out of this mess.

They should have gone back to get the gang's help. He had known it when they were on their way to the ship holding Hakoda, and he most certainly knew it now. They had been insane to think that they could take on an entire ship with just the two of them. But there hadn't been time to go back for help, Zuko reasoned with himself; they would have forfeited their only slot to rescue Sokka's father before the ship had arrived at the meeting point to complete the prison transfer.

It had been reckless, but they'd had no choice. Now, trapped and bound with no chance of escaping by himself, all Zuko could do was hope that Sokka came up with a rescue plan, and did it soon.

* * *

Sokka checked the coast was clear before quickly slipping out of his father's cell. The room was positioned behind the corner of a long corridor which they had failed to notice during their initial rescue attempt. Sokka tried to walk down the corridor naturally, like a normal guard would, but he stopped short when he saw guards patrolling outside of Zuko's new cell. He paused for a second before coming up with a quick plan.

"Hey!" Sokka called to the guards, attracting their attention. He pointed to the door of the cell with his thumb. "Give me a couple of minutes with that traitor to rough him up a bit. I want to show that dirty low-life what I think of him!"

"Fine," one of the guards sighed, shrugging. "You get one minute." They opened the door and Sokka strutted inside before slamming the door behind him. He then quietly lifted his helmet so Zuko knew who he was.

"Sorry about punching you earlier," Zuko whispered as Sokka grabbed a pillow, propped it against Zuko, and began fake punching him.

Sokka had woken up in an infirmary room with several other guards, and had realised through his stinging headache that Zuko had ensured his disguise better than Sokka's acting ever could have . However, he'd still been tempted to not use a pillow during his 'beating up' of Zuko.

"You seem pretty upbeat given that you've been captured and imprisoned," Sokka whispered back. "Take that, and that!" He yelled for the guards as he punched. "I'm used to plans going wrong. Sometimes clouds have two sides, a dark and light and a silver lining in between," Zuko said. "As my uncle would say, you have to look for the silver sandwich."

"Uh, ok. How hard did they hit you?" Sokka asked, genuinely concerned. "Dirty scum of our glorious nation!"

Zuko let out a small chuckle that made his sore ribs ache. Iroh's sayings had never made any sense to him, either, though he figured Iroh was probably better at giving his advice than Zuko's impersonation of him.

"Ugh, ow! Argh"" Zuko yelled as Sokka's blows failed to actually hurt him. "So what's the new plan?" He asked Sokka, who quickly moved behind Zuko's chair to begin picking the lock on his chains.

"Well, the new plan is the old plan!" Sokka explained quietly. "Azula has gone back to her ship to sleep for the night, leaving the Warden in charge. I'm going to open all the cells doors at the same time - you, Suki and my dad are going to rush to the deck and help me untie Appa, and then we're going to get out of here before your sister even makes it back on the ship! Be ready to go within the hour." Sokka quickly worked on the lock as he spoke, leaping back to his feet to resume his fake punching once he'd released Zuko's hands. "Take that you treasonous bastard!"

"Alright, that's enough," one of the guards called as he unlocked the door and began to step in. "Time to break it up." Sokka dropped the pillow, throwing it across the room, and punched Zuko in the face before the guards could see it. They rushed in as his fist made contact and pulled Sokka out.

Zuko glared at the smug look on Sokka's face as the guards escorted him away. He was fairly sure that the hit had been more about selling the story to the guards than an act of malicious revenge, but Zuko had no doubt that Sokka had enjoyed getting his own back.

Once the door had shut on Zuko and the guards had released Sokka, the water tribe boy sauntered away from the cell and headed to the staff room, which he had discovered was pretty much deserted at this time of night. He made sure to discreetly whisper the same information about the escape into Suki's cell on his way.

As his father had explained, most of the cell doors could be open simultaneously from a control room at the Boiling Rock during their break times, and Hakoda suspected that the cell doors on the prison ship might be the same. Sokka had been dubious, given that all the doors had been opened by keys so far, but his father suggested that in case of a fire or the ship sinking they would probably want all of the doors to open at the same time.

Sokka sat down in the empty break room, and took a few deep breaths as he prepared himself for their next escape attempt. The ship had stopped earlier while Azula boarded the ship with her entourage, putting the transfer an hour or two behind schedule and buying Sokka more time. He had suspected that security around the ship would have increased tenfold as the ship began to run its last leg of the journey, but the Warden seemed to be overconfident in his ability to manage his prisoners.

The security around Zuko's cell and Appa (from a safe distance) was constant. Sokka guessed that, as the Warden believed that Zuko and Appa were the only two newcomers, the man in charge saw no reason to keep the majority of the guards awake for the entire night. Perhaps they thought that Zuko would make his next escape move during the actual transfer, a plan Sokka and Hakoda had considered before deciding that it was much too close to the Fire Nation capital and mainland for their liking.

Sokka sat, still trying to even out his breathing. It was strange, but he felt like he could feel the atmosphere of the ship; as the adrenaline of the previous escape began to wear off, the people on board were being lulled into a false sense of calm by the late hour and quiet ship.

He made his way to the control room of the ship, nodding at the occasional guard he passed during their patrols. The control room door was closed, the heavy steel door standing in his way. Sokka gripped the baton which came with his security guard uniform tightly in his hand, and knocked loudly on the door. A slot in the door slid open, and a masked guard looked out.

"I've got a message from the Warden," Sokka stated.

"The Warden's in here," The guard replied, unimpressed.

Sokka tensed. "Yeah, I know that, I've got a message _for_ the Warden. It's urgent, Sir."

The guard hesitated before nodding. The panel shut, and then the steel door slowly opened. Sokka strolled in, attempting to fake confidence. He thrust his shoulders back and held his head up, loosening his grip on the baton as he walked.

"What's the message?" The Warden barked.

"One of the cell doors opened by itself in the brig, giving us reason to believe that the machine is malfunctioning. I can take a look at it, Sir," Sokka replied, saluting the Warden as he gave his false report.

The Warden angrily pointed to a machine on the right side of the control room. The device looked simple enough: it had a few buttons, wiring and a large lever, and Sokka presumed that it was what opened all of the cell doors at once.

"Which cell door? Did the prisoner get out? Is the situation in hand?" The Warden shouted questions at Sokka while he tinkered with the machine.

"Well, I'm not sure, Sir," Sokka said. "They told me about the machine, and I came here as quickly as I could to fix it. I'm pretty sure the situation's in hand, but…" The Warden was already charging out the door at Sokka's words to check on the situation himself.

The door shut, and Sokka knew he had to act instantly; there wasn't much time before the Warden found out that none of the cell doors had been opened by mistake. Sokka pulled the giant lever, praying that it would open all of the cell doors.

He could hear a faint bell go off in the brig, and the sound of many doors clicking open.

"What are you doing?" One of the guards asked Sokka in alarm, taking a step towards him.

Before they could reach him, Sokka raised his baton and started attacking the lever, wedging it into a position that would make it impossible for them to use it to shut all the cell doors. Dodging the guards who began to converge on him, Sokka ran through the door which had been left open by the Warden.

It was easy enough for Sokka to run back to the cells, as the few guards that were awake were doing the same thing. He reached the stairwell down to the brig, and from the balcony he stood on Sokka could see chaos slowly unfurling below as prisoners woke up and ran out of their cells. Zuko, as far as they were aware, was the only prisoner that was chained up, a problem they had already sorted out.

Sokka ran down the stairs, surveying the frenzy of fighting to find Suki, Zuko and his father. He watched as the guards to Zuko's cell were distracted by trying to control several other prisoners, giving Zuko the chance to escape unnoticed. He ran towards Sokka at the same time that Sokka spotted Hakoda trying to make his way through the corridor.

"We've got to free Appa." He told them both when they reached him. "Where's Suki?"

Hakoda pointed up, and the trio watched in surprise as Suki hiked herself up onto the platform, binding the Warden's hands and gagging him with the rope on his own headband. She looked down at them, and they gestured towards the stairs.

Sokka and his father ran ahead to free Appa whilst Zuko provided cover for Suki, who was holding the Warden hostage. They ran out of the brig, struggling to get past the guards who were running to contain the prisoners in the corridor. Zuko ran to the front, using his firebending to push the guards back up the stairs. Hakoda picked a baton off one of the fallen guards as they ran past, holding it in front of him to fend off any attacking guards.

"We need something sharp to break the ropes!" Sokka shouted once they reached the deck, beginning their sprint towards Appa.

"I could burn them?" Zuko suggested.

"No fire! Appa will freak out."

"I also need something sharp!" Suki shouted, using the Warden as a human body-shield.

"Well if you need something sharp…" One of the guards offered her in a menacing tone as several non-bender guards pulled knives from their uniforms.

"How come we get batons and they get knives!?" Sokka shouted in alarm as he attempted to fight against a small knife with a wooden baton.

Suki threw the Warden to Hakoda and then dived forward to avoid being stabbed by the first guard. She grabbed his wrist, locking it into an uncomfortable position, and kicked the legs out from underneath him. The guard fell into a heap on the floor, and Suki held the knife proudly as she winked at the boys.

"Knife one - start on the ropes." She passed the blade to Sokka, who started cutting at Appa's ropes whilst Hakoda and Zuko continued to defend the group against the guards. The number of attackers continued to ebb and flow as more guards arrived to fight before disappearing into the brig to prevent other escaping.

"Knife number two!" Suki called as she disarmed the guard Zuko had been facing. She threw the knife to Hakoda once he had pushed the Warden to Zuko.

"And knife three!" She cried as she held another guard's arm at a terrifying angle. "Thank you for the knives, they really were helpful!" Suki grinned at the guard before throwing him into another oncoming guard. She sprinted over to Zuko, who had a tight grip on the Warden whilst simultaneously using his fire-bending to keep his attackers at bay. Zuko threw the Warden back to Suki, and she turned him so that she was holding her knife to the Warden's throat.

Several of the guards paused.

"If you try to stop us from escaping, I'll kill your Warden," Suki growled.

Suddenly, the ship began to slow. The change in momentum sent everyone stumbling across the deck. Several guards resumed their attacks against the group, but Zuko's steady stream of counter fire kept them from doing any damage to his group.

"Come on, we've got to go! The ship is slowing down which means that Azula will probably be on board any minute now!" Sokka shouted to Zuko and Suki once he and Hakoda had finished breaking the ropes that were binding Appa. The sky bison roared in appreciation, shaking out his now unrestricted legs.

Suki continued to step backwards towards Appa, standing near the edge of the ship whilst still holding the gagged Warden at knifepoint. She was debating whether to haul the Warden onto Appa and push him off once they were in the air, or if she should let him go sooner and hope the guards didn't cause them any grief. After a few seconds, Suki made her choice; she decided that they needed a distraction.

Suki pushed the Warden over the rail, and he fell into the water with a loud splash. It was too dark to see him clearly, but they could hear his muffled shouting well enough. It was obvious to the guards that the Warden was struggling to swim in the ocean with his hands tied behind his back, and with their attention diverted to locating and rescuing their Warden from drowning, Suki dashed onto Appa. The sky bison pushed off from the boat as Zuko threw a steady stream of fireballs at the guards to keep them at bay.

* * *

Azula, who had been woken and informed of the riot occurring on the Warden's transfer ship, had ordered that both ships stop so she could board and, once again, sort out the Warden's mess. She stood on the deck, ready and waiting in the moonlight, staring out at the dark water. Azula watched in disappointment as her ship continued to sail past the prisoner ship which had slowed to a halt with the fighting prisoners.

Azula rolled her eyes in frustration - did she have to do everything herself? Bracing her leg against the railing, Azula prepared to use her bending to help power her to jump across onto the other ship. She didn't like uncalculated risks, but Azula was confident in her ability to make the distance over the water, and was aware that she only had a small window of opportunity to jump before her ship was too far ahead. She was about to make the jump when she saw, out of the corner of her eye, several guards hauling Mai across the deck towards her.

"Why haven't we stopped? What's going on?" Azula demanded as several guards stood in front of her. Mai was being held by the arms, and she looked particularly sulky as she hung in their grasp. "Mai?" Azula moved away from the rail, aware that she had missed her chance to make the jump successfully. However, she was too distracted by the apparent insubordination to pay her missed opportunity too much attention.

"We caught her jamming the control machines. It'll take a little while to repair before we can stop the engines or activate the walkway plank to board the other ship," one guard admitted sheepishly.

"She also injured several of our guards using these." Another guard held up one of Mai's classic silver and red throwing knives. Ty Lee hovered nearby, watching the exchange nervously.

Azula's eyes narrowed. "I never expected this from you."

Mai refused to answer, instead directing her steely gaze t the floor in defiance.

"The thing I don't understand is _why_ ," Azula said bitterly. "Why would you do it?"

"I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do," Mai said icily. "You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you." Mai lifted her chin to look Azula in the eye while she answered.

Azula bared her teeth as her eyebrows knit together in surprise and confusion. "No _you_ miscalculated," she shouted. "You should have feared me more!"

She lunged forwards, her hands extended towards Mai to strike her with lightening when Ty Lee suddenly hit her in the back, one fist pummelling under her right shoulder blade and then the left. Azula gasped, falling forwards onto her face with no control of her arms to brace herself against the fall. Ty Lee looked down in surprise at her own actions as more guards rushed forward, seizing Ty Lee and helping Azula to her feet.

"You're both _fools_ ," Azula hissed, allowing the guards to assist her in standing up.

"What shall we do with them, Princess?" A guard asked.

"Put them somewhere I'll never have to see their faces again. And let them rot," Azula ordered. The guards escorted her to the rail so she could see the prisoner ship, and Azula watched furiously as her idiot brother and his friends escaped into the distance.

"Follow that bison," Azula demanded.

* * *

Gliding through the air on Appa's back, Suki, Sokka, Zuko and Hakoda watched the two ships disappear from view as they began to sail back to the Western Air Temple.

"Won't they follow us back to your location?" Suki asked Sokka and Zuko in concern.

"I know from personal experience that Appa is much faster than steam ships, and we're harder to track at night," Zuko said reassuringly. "We'll lose them long before we reach the Western Air Temple."

There was a moment of contentment, and Zuko let his companions relish their success for a moment.

"But if Azula _does_ try to follow us," he continued, "she may gain a better idea of which area we're hiding in. I recommend that we leave the temple sooner rather than later. We shouldn't stay anything longer than a few days."

"I've already marked on the map a few contingency places we can go to," Sokka replied.

Hakoda reached his hand out to Zuko. "I would like to thank you for helping Sokka and coming to get us," the Chief of the water Tribe said politely. They shook hands, and Zuko nodded at Sokka's father. A lump formed in his throat as he exchanged a nervous glance with Sokka - should he tell Hakoda that he had married Katara?

Sokka subtly shook his head at Zuko. Katara had broken the news to him in Appa's saddle, and Sokka remembered how furious and confused he'd initially felt; strong emotions mixed with the confined space of the saddle and the terrifying heights at which they were travelling were _not_ a good combination.

Suki caught their little exchange, but stayed quiet; she figured she owed the pair their little secret after they had help her escape, and Suki hoped everything would become clear when they arrived back at the temple.

The group flew on through the remaining hours of the night, everyone descending into an exhausted sleep while Zuko moved seat to steer Appa. When dawn broke, Sokka took hold of the reins, and let Zuko finally rest.

After giving the sky bison a brief reprieve on an empty island, they spent another day flying on Appa, who was noticeably slower after all of the long journeys they'd put him through with little sleep. When they arrived back at the temple the following evening, Sokka and Zuko stumbled into the courtyard first, where the remaining group sat eating dinner.

"Where have you been!?" Katara yelled, standing with her fists clenched as she shot daggers at the pair, her face a mixture of fury and relief. Aang sprung up from his seated position, smiling at Sokka and Zuko.

"How was your fishing trip?" He asked cheerily, waving from behind Katara.

"Did you get any good meat?" Toph called out.

"I did." Sokka's face split into a grin. "The meat of fatherhood and friendship." Hakoda and Suki walked into the courtyard, causing the groups jaws to drop simultaneously.

"Dad," Katara whispered in shock, tears began to spring from her eyes as she ran forward into his arms.

"Hi Katara," Hakoda murmured as he wrapped his arms around his daughter, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"How are you here?" She asked, before looking over at Sokka in awe. "Where did you go?"

"We kind of went to a Fire Nation prison ship," Sokka said with a shrug. Katara reached over to him and pulled Sokka into the family hug. Hakoda cradled both of his children to his chest.

"Thank you," Katara whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks. She was thanking the spirits, Tui and La, but mostly she was thanking her brother. Katara opened her eyes to glance over at Zuko, who was watching the family reunion with goofy smile on his face.

She was even thanking Zuko, a little bit.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Thank you so much for the reviews and the support! I have re-written this chapter because I didn't like Hakoda's initial reaction, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 _Two days earlier…_

Katara woke up, noticing that the light in her room was different from its usual angles. As she pushed herself up Katara realised that, for the first time since Zuko had joined the group, she hadn't heard him waking Aang up. She had woken up naturally, and she suspected that she had majorly slept in.

Zuko must have woken Aang up quietly to spite her.

She would never admit it out loud, but Katara enjoyed getting up early. Because she had more time in the day; it was like time was something she could control by getting up earlier and making her days longer, which meant that the Comet's arrival was still far away in the future.

Katara walked into the courtyard and, to her surprise, found no one there. The boys weren't mediating or firebending like they usually were. Her stomach dropped, and Katara felt adrenaline surge through her veins as questions and concerns rushed through her mind.

Had she been right all along? Had Zuko kidnapped Aang?

Confused and panicked, Katara ran back to Aang's room, throwing open the door with unprecedented urgency. Aang lay in his bed, sleeping deeply, apparently also enjoying a lie in. Katara let out a sigh of relief.

Why had Zuko let them both sleep in? Where was he?

The sun had risen fully, and it was unlike Zuko to not be using this time to train. Even though she had needed those extra hours of sleep, Katara felt like something was wrong. She edged towards Zuko's room to find the door already open and his bed empty.

Had he snuck out? Had he left them?

Katara quickly woke Aang and the others to alert them of Zuko's disappearance. They discovered that Sokka was missing too, causing a sense of unease to spread through the group. They began to search the Air Temple until the Duke found a letter written in Zuko's hand. Katara plucked the letter from the Duke so that she could read it.

" _Need meat. Gone fishing. Back in a few days. One more thing - Aang, practise your firebending, while I'm away. Do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badger-frog croak. Sokka and Zuko._ " Katara glared at the letter in her hands, and in that moment she wished she could firebend so that she could make Zuko's handwriting burn to ash.

Sokka and Zuko were gone for several days, and with each passing hour that they didn't return, Katara only grew more furious. They were supposed to be laying low, not gallivanting off without the group!

But her anger immediately dissipated when her father walked into the temple. Katara had been speechless, and immediately ran forward into his arms, crying with happiness and relief that both he and Suki were ok.

It had been a wonderful moment, reuniting with her father. After years of war and the craziness of the past few months, it had been a rare moment where the feeling surprise was a joyful one, and Katara wanted to cling to that happiness forever.

After eventually prying Katara away from her father, the group fell back into their routine. They had served up the rest of dinner for Sokka, Zuko, Hakoda and Suki, the group sitting around the fire in a circle with an undeniably upbeat atmosphere. Sokka and Zuko laughed while they recounted their adventure to the group, and after dinner, Zuko helped to brew tea for everyone.

As the boys told their story and the group laughed and listened in rapt attention, Katara could feel her own happiness slipping away. She kept glancing over to her father, hoping to feel the same rush of relief and joy she had earlier, but bitterness continued to creep into her head as she felt her mood turning sour.

Katara couldn't help but feel resentment boiling under her skin when she looked at Sokka. She just didn't understand - why hadn't he taken her with him? Why had he left her behind in the dark about what he was doing? Did Sokka think that he loved their dad more because he was the one willing to go save him? Katara was happy to be reunited with her father, was relieved that he was no longer suffering in a foreign prison, but she couldn't shake the feeling of betrayal. She would have thought that the one person in the world who would understand how much it hurt to be left behind, especially by family, would be Sokka. And yet he had left her, and Katara had spent days feeling anxious, weak and unsettled.

Remembering how stressed and defenceless she had felt brought those negative emotions forwards again; instead of feeling happy, Katara struggled to smother the quiet fury building up within.

Part of the problem was not just that Katara had been left behind, but that she had been given no warning to prepare for seeing her father again. Normally, there would be nothing to prepare for except joy and delight, but that had been before she'd mistakenly gotten married.

Katara assumed that Zuko and Sokka had kept their mouths shut about the situation to Hakoda, otherwise she was certain he would have mentioned it by now - or, at the very least, would be looking at Zuko very differently. Katara was going to have to admit to her father that she was married, and when she did he would no doubt be disappointed, or angry, or both. The thought of his reaction brought shame and guilt crashing down onto her. It would be like when she had had to tell Sokka, only ten times worse. Katara struggled to breathe under the tsunami of emotions that were threatening to suffocate her.

Katara resented the fact that she was so worried about what her father would think; even after her had left them to fight in the war, and after all she had achieved in the past year, he father was still in a position to judge her.

It wasn't fair. They had excluded her from helping, and created a situation that Katara wasn't ready to face. She stewed silently whilst the chatter carried on around her.

It pulled at Zuko's heartstrings to see Sokka and his family, to watch a father who so clearly loved his children. He thought of how dysfunctional his own family was in comparison, but pushed that sadness away and instead tried to focus on how he had helped the Water Tribe family come together again. Zuko quietly excused himself from the circle of people drinking tea by the fire and headed towards the Air Temple's bathrooms. He had pushed away the disappointment he felt for his own family, but Zuko still needed a minute to himself.

The past few days had been so intense that Zuko felt the need to take stock of what had changed and what had not. His friendship with Sokka had clearly improved. The group seemed more welcoming and trusting of him than they had since before he'd accidentally married Katara. Zuko even felt confident enough to attempt jokes about tea again. He had also helped to make Katara happy, but Zuko wasn't naïve enough to think that she would have accepted their marriage during their time apart, and he had little hope that she would be nicer to him despite helping Sokka free their father. Not that it mattered; Zuko hadn't helped Sokka to make Katara like him - he had helped because it was the right and honourable thing to do.

As he made his way back to the group, Zuko spotted Katara's figure in the dim corridor. She was leaning against a wall, clearly waiting for him. He approached hesitantly, hoping that maybe she was going to thank him. But as Zuko got closer, he noticed that she wasn't smiling. Slightly concerned for his safety, he stopped a few feet away from her.

"Are you ok?" Zuko asked. Katara glared at him, causing Zuko to scowl back in confusion.

"You're not to say a word to my dad about the marriage, understood?" Katara demanded.

"I wasn't going to say anything! I was waiting for you to tell him. I'd like to be there when you do though - tell him, I mean," Zuko replied hastily, scratching the back of his head. He knew Katara would want to be the one to break the news to Hakoda, but Zuko wanted to be there to explain himself to her father too. It would look dishonourable and cowardly if he hid away while he let her do all of the confessing.

"No, you don't get it," Katara growled. "I don't want him finding out _at all_ , not yet at least. After the war… I'll tell him then."

"What!? You can't keep something like this from him," Zuko argued. He didn't want to hide a huge secret from her father in such a small group of people; he knew it would only look worse when the truth inevitably came out.

"Yes, I can," Katara hissed back at him. "He's my father. I'm grateful that you helped Sokka rescue him and Suki, but that doesn't mean you're entitled to tell him about the marriage, and it doesn't mean I have to act like your wife now!"

"Agh!" Zuko shouted. "I never said that it did! I didn't do it for those reasons. I just wish you would acknowledge what's already legally binding, and I don't think you should hide this from your father!"

"Well, he's _my_ father, so it's none of your business!"

"I'm the one stuck married to you," Zuko snapped, "so of course it's my business! I don't think you should hide it from him because you're _lucky_ to have a father like that. We're going to be facing some real battles when that comet arrives, and you can't go into them with unresolved secrets from your family."

"No way!" Katara yelled back. "I don't want to tell him! You and Sokka just saved him! You're all buddies now, and I don't want to be the problem-daughter who accidentally got married and disgraced her tribe traditions! I can't face that right now. I'll tell him when I'm ready!"

"Katara?" They heard Hakoda call in confusion from the courtyard, followed by the sound of approaching footsteps. Her father and brother appeared in the hallway.

"Uh, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but we could hear you yelling," Sokka admitted. Katara felt the colour drain from her face; it felt like the blood was draining right out of her head, she felt so dizzy with shame. In contrast, colour rushed to Zuko's cheeks as the two walked towards them.

Hakoda stared at the pair in shock. "Is this some sort of joke? You two are married?" His voice began to raise in volume as he spoke.

"Dad…" Was all Katara could manage in response, her voice suddenly a whisper.

"You are fifteen, how could you be married?" Hakoda growled, each word laced with fury. "And how could you marry someone from the _Fire Nation_? A member of the royal family no less _?_ Because of his family, the world is at war! His family have destroyed our tribe and our family! They killed your mother! How could you marry him?"

Sokka stepped between his father and sister, holding a hand up to each side as a symbol of peace. Why did everyone have to shout in this corridor?

"And you!" Hakoda pointed a finger at Zuko. "You had the nerve to look me in the eye when you secretly married my daughter?"

"I think that everyone needs to go sit down, take a breath, maybe have some tea, and then we can talk about this!" Sokka suggested firmly, causing three pairs of eyes to turn to him. With a begrudging nod, Hakoda spun around and headed back to the fire. Sokka placed his hand on Katara's shoulder before leading her in the same direction, Zuko following behind them.

The rest of the group, who had been staring in the direction of the corridor, all looked away when the four walked back into the courtyard. Hakoda stormed over to the camp fire, clearly desperate to hear some sort of explanation, whilst Sokka increased his pace to keep up with him, letting go of Katara as his footsteps sped up. Zuko walked at his own pace, his head held up higher than one would think comfortable, and Katara dragged herself into the courtyard, sulking.

"Uh, time for bed, I think," Suki said as she began to round everyone up. to the rest of the group awkwardly scuttled away from the courtyard as Zuko and the Water Tribe family reluctantly sat back down to talk.

Her father had never yelled at Katara like that before. She was still in shock from his reaction as she took a seat, and Katara couldn't help the tears dripping down her cheeks. She tried to sniff discreetly in the awkward silence that followed once the courtyard had cleared out.

Hakoda stared at where her mother's necklace hung around Katara's neck before glancing between her and Zuko. Katara could see it in his eyes: Hakoda felt betrayed by her, by the thought that Katara had betrayed her own tribe.

"I'm so sorry, Dad," Katara's voice wobbled with emotion, and she fought back a sob whilst she talked. "I didn't mean to let you down like this - it wasn't on purpose. It was an accident, a mistake. Neither of us _want_ to be married."

Hakoda stared at them in confusion before his face became a stoic mask. Katara knew that look; it was the one he used when he was disappointed, and she didn't know whether the honest anger or the stony disappointment was worse.

"How did you _accidentally_ get married?" Hakoda asked.

"We went to a Fire Nation bar," Katara replied sheepishly. "We drank, um, we drank a lot, and when we woke up, we found that we had gotten married."

"And why, in your intoxicated state, did you two decide to get _married_?" Hakoda asked, not making the connection between drinking and getting hitched.

"Well, we were encouraged by the Young Lovers Festival. It's a Fire Nation tradition that, uh, encourages pairs to get married," Zuko supplied.

"Hmm, I see. Prince Zuko, _you're_ Fire Nation, did you know about the tradition in advance?" Hakoda questioned, levelling a hard stare at Zuko.

"No! Uh, no, Sir. I'd never heard of it before; it's a tradition specific to that small island," Zuko replied.

Despite the honesty of his answer, Zuko still felt shame at Hakoda's suspicion that he had tricked Katara into the marriage. Zuko wanted to feel angry - they were both victims in this situation - but he was too envious of Hakoda's protectiveness towards his children.

"He didn't know," Katara said in Zuko's defence; it was the first thing she had said with a firm voice.

Sokka cleared his throat, diverting his father's attention to him.

"And where were _you_ during all of this?" Hakoda asked his son. Before Sokka could answer, Hakoda shook his head. "Never mind. How long have you been together since the marriage?" Hakoda turned back to Zuko and Katara, his expression still stoic.

Zuko and Katara's faces both flushed red. "No, Dad, it's not like that! We're not _together_. The wedding was nearly a month ago, but we're not a couple," Katara insisted.

The mask broke. Hakoda was leaning forwards in their direction, his elbows propped on his knees, his chin resting on his twined hands during the discussion. At Katara's words, he cradled his face in the palm of his hands, letting out a loud sigh.

"You're married but you're not upholding the marriage. I don't know which is worse. What does that even _mean_?" Hakoda muttered to himself.

He looked up from his hands sharply, glaring at Zuko. "And as Prince of the Fire Nation, if you ascend to the throne, what does that make Katara?" Zuko maintained the direct eye contact, but felt like he was looking into the eyes of a polar-wolf defending his pack.

"I, uh, honestly don't know what will happen if I become Fire Lord. It's up to my Fire Court to approve a marriage." Hakoda's eyes narrowed even more, but Zuko carried on hastily. " _But,_ if they'll listen to me, then Katara would be Fire Lady. She would be my equal." Zuko looked over at her. "That is, if she would accept the role."

Hakoda looked back at his daughter, and it occurred to him that the prince's words had a double meaning; he was not just talking about the role as Fire Lady, but about the role as a wife as well. For the first time in the conversation Hakoda noticed how hostile Katara was being to her situation. He had initially thought she was angry about having to discuss it with him, but it was becoming clear that her anger ran deeper than their present conversation.

"Would you accept the role?" Hakoda asked his daughter, his tone softening slightly. Katara stared across the fire at him, swallowing visibly while she said nothing. After a moment, she shook her head and wiped at the tears staining her cheeks.

"We were going to wait for the war to be over before we made any decisions about it," she finally answered.

Zuko watched as Sokka yawned in an exaggerated fashion and began to stand up. Zuko sensed that he was running out of time to convince Katara's father not to hate him.

"Chief Hakoda, Sir, I'm sorry that we didn't go about this in a traditional manner. I'm sorry that because of our mistake, Katara is now linked to the Fire Nation. I didn't want this to happen, and I apologize for the trouble it's causing to your family. I mean no disrespect to your tribe or your customs. I'm sorry that we could not ask for your blessing or permission. But I would like you to know that, if Katara will agree, I will honour and uphold our marriage and will do everything in my power to protect your daughter for the rest of my life." Zuko stood and gave Hakoda a traditional Water Tribe bow as he finished his speech.

Katara watched as Hakoda slowly stood up and bowed back despite his initial surprise.

"Well, I think it's time we hit the hay and left these two alone, don't you buddy?" Sokka slung his arm around Zuko's shoulder and began to pull him away from the campfire.

Hakoda nodded at the pair; he had stopped glaring at Zuko, but still gave him a hard, assessing stare.

"Goodnight." Hakoda did not smile but, slowly, a menacing smirk spread across his face. "Perhaps in the morning we'll discuss plans for our hunting trip. It's a Water Tribe tradition for a son-in-law - well, normally a _future_ son-in-law - to go hunting with the bride's family."

Zuko gulped. The words sounded simultaneously like a threat and a promise.

Sokka had a vice-like grip around Zuko which he wanted to fight but, reluctantly, Azuko allowed himself to be dragged away, giving Katara and her father a chance to properly talk. Once they were out of sight, Sokka released him.

"It was for your own good. They need to work this out alone," Sokka explained quietly. "Besides, it's been a long few days. Go get some proper rest."

Zuko let out an irritated sigh and gave Sokka a tight nod before walking towards his room. With every step he took, Zuko was fighting the urge to sneak back to eavesdrop.

Sokka wanted to yell after Zuko to tell him that it would somehow all work out in the end, but he knew that he couldn't promise that. They still had an entire war to end. He considered telling Zuko that he thought his Dad would eventually come around to the whole marriage thing, but he had no way of knowing that for sure either. Still, it was an opinion Sokka was fairly confident about. But even after the war, if they succeeded, it wouldn't matter if he and his father respected the marriage - it would be Katara's decision on how to handle it. Sokka knew that he and his father would respect Katara's decision either way, and whilst he could understand Zuko's frustration with Katara's attitude, he would still back his sister every time.

Figuring that it was probably smarter to remain quiet while Zuko walked away rather than yell this truth after him, Sokka headed into his room, forcing himself to close the door and collapse onto his bed rather than go back to listen in on his family's conversation.

Katara had moved to sit next to her father by the camp fire, and had been silently staring into the flames since. She had been trying so hard to live her life as if she had never married Zuko, but now she felt like that bubble of pretence had popped. Her father was like the last wall of defence against the truth; admitting her mistake to him made it all the more real, and Katara still hated to accept that.

"Dad," Katara started. "I know you must be so disappointed in me. I let you and the tribe down, and I'm sorry."

"No, Katara, I'm sorry," Hakoda replied. "I only want what's best for you, and I'm sorry I wasn't there to look after you, to protect you. I'm sorry I yelled at you as well. I know that didn't help anything. I just never imagined that you'd end up married to the Prince of the Fire Nation." Hakoda wrapped his arm around his daughter' shoulders as he spoke

"Really, Zuko's more of an ex-prince." Katara corrected.

"It's a father's worst nightmare that his daughter will grow up all too soon and suddenly be married," Hakoda continued. "I wish you weren't married. But what makes me sad is to see you so unhappy. I'm hurt that you didn't want to tell me about this. Is that because of how you two got married, or is it because it's Prince Zuko you married? Is there anything more I need to know about him?"

"No, Dad," Katara said against her father's shoulder. "I didn't want to tell you because I've been pretending that it's not true. Admitting it to you… makes it real." Katara took a deep breath, pushing away from her father's embrace. "Zuko's not evil or mean, not like his family. But he's misguided and troubled, and he can't be trusted - not with something as important as the fate of the world."

Hakoda watched his daughter sigh in frustration.

"It's like you said," she continued. "He's the prince of the Fire Nation. I'll never be fully Water Tribe again, and I just… I can't help rule a nation that thinks our culture is barbaric and savage."

"Well then," Hakoda said carefully, "you have a lot of decisions to make in the future."

Katara nodded.

"I know."

They stayed up most of the night and talked.

Hakoda talked about what a marriage meant, his voice catching as he brought up his own marriage to Kya. He emphasised that even though Katara had jumped the gun on getting married and not to a Water Tribe boy, she was still part of both the Water Tribe and their family, something which would never change.

Katara told her father that she didn't want to be married at all, least of all to Zuko, at this point in her life. She discussed her adventures with Aang, Sokka and Toph, noting how she much she had grown as a person in the last year and how she didn't want a marriage to get in the way of her dreams of flying around the world, helping people, and training the next generation of waterbenders; she wanted to be valued for her waterbending skills, not as somebody's wife.

"Katara," Hakoda said to his daughter as she told him her fears about how her marriage would impact her future, "I love you, and I don't want to see you forced into a marriage you hate - that goes against everything our Southern Water Tribe stands for. I understand how difficult it would be to ever forgive the Fire Nation for what they have done. But it is also a part of _our_ tribe to respect the promises that we made. And even though you were drunk and it was a mistake, you still promised to be Zuko's partner in this life," Hakoda told her as he hugged her goodnight.

"Wait, you want me to accept the marriage?" Katara stared at him in confusion as she pulled away.

"No. I really wish you weren't married to him." Hakoda sighed. "I know that I'm not making much sense. I'm not encouraging the marriage, but I don't want to make your mind up for you. You're strong, Katara, and I know you can face anything. I will always support you, but I also want to remind you that we Watertribe folk don't run from our mistakes, or pretend that they don't exist- we face them head on. I'm not saying you need to make a decision instantly, - you're right, it's wise to wait 'till the war ends - but I want you to think about it more before coming to a final decision."

It hurt to hear the honesty of her father's opinion, that although he was disappointed that he might lose Katara to a foreign nation, he would also be disappointed if she ran away from her issues. It hurt to hear because Katara didn't want to be told what secretly she had already known: her marriage wasn't going to go away, and eventually she was going to have to make a decision about it.

But it did help to have talked thoroughly about it; Katara had gotten a lot off of her chest. She stumbled back to her bed, and for the first time in days, she slept peacefully.

In the morning, Zuko and Aang woke to start their meditation and firebending practise. Zuko knocked loudly as usual, but after he and Aang had been meditating for a while he, noticed that Katara had not joined them. He figured she was probably sleeping in after the eventful conversation of the previous night.

Nearly all of the group had filtered into the courtyard whilst Aang and Zuko practised. Hakoda had just walked in, talking to his son when Aang suddenly yelled in surprise.

While sparring with Zuko, Aang saws a canister fly out of the air and onto the ground in front him. He shouted, quickly bending it back away from the temple, and everyone watched as it exploded mid-air. They all ran towards each other, converging into a group as they saw several air ships appear from the mist across the canyon.

"We need to get out of here!" Aang yelled as more canisters began to rain down on the ancient temple structure, sending them flying with a flick of his staff.

"Where's Katara?" Sokka shouted as he took stock of the group.

"I think she's still sleeping," Toph answered, concerned.

"We have to go get h-"

Another round of bombs hit the ground, so many that Aang was struggled to keep them at bay singlehandedly. They needed more time if they were going to go get Katara, and the group couldn't just wait in plain sight like sitting armadillo-ducks. The pillars of the courtyard were reinforced with steel, and Aang used his staff to airbend and close the steel shutters around the square.

Zuko had already taken off before Sokka had finished his sentence. He dodged through the steel shutters as they began to close, sprinting down the corridor towards Katara's room. The shutters closed with a definitive thud, sealing the group off from the invaders, but also sealing them off from Zuko and Katara.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Just a little note that last week I rewrote and updated chapter 8 so if you want to read a slightly different Hakoda reaction then please feel free to read the new version.

Thank you for the reviews and all the support!

* * *

Katara was asleep in her bed when, suddenly, everything began to shake. She woke up to see a pair of panicked golden eyes staring at her as she blinked in surprise, uncertain as to what was going on. Zuko was leaning across her, his fingers wrapped around both of her shoulders as he shook her out of her slumber.

"Katara, wake up! We have to get out of here," he shouted in her face.

Alarmed and annoyed, Katara's arms instinctively trailed up Zuko's shoulders to shove him away.

"Get off of me!" She pushed him away and sat up, still somewhat dazed. Katara had desperately needed a few more hours of sleep after staying up so late talking to her father, and felt disorientated after being woken up so violently. She noticed that the room was still shaking - in fact, she could feel the whole temple trembling.

"We're under attack." Zuko was pulling her out of her bed now, dragging her up by her hands. "I'll be right back!"

He reached down to pick up Katara's clothes, which were folded neatly at the foot of her bed, and threw her water tribe outfit at her before darting out of the room and towards his own room.. Katara quickly shrugged on her clothes, and had just finished pulling on her top and was slinging on her waterbending pouch when Zuko dashed back into the room. She watched as he swiped her plastic ring off of her nightstand and pocketed it.

"What are you doing?" Katara asked, finally coming to her fully-conscious senses.

Zuko ignored her question. "Come on!" His voice was frantic. He grabbed Katara's shoes, which she hadn't had time to put on, and gestured for her to follow him with his free hand.

As they ran down the hallway, Katara stared at the scene in front of her in shock. She could feel her feet being caked in dust and soot from the explosions as she swerved to avoid the little chunks of rock that littered their path from where the temple was caving in. Katara felt the vibrations get stronger with every step they took the beautiful temple was shaking to pieces from what she assumed were explosions.

The bombs rained down across the Eastern Air Temple as they ran; it was hard to see the courtyard at the end of the corridor due to the smoke and clouds of dust that had arisen. Zuko had stayed a step or two ahead of Katara as they ran, shouting the occasional warning where he thought she might step on something sharp. They had nearly reached the end of the corridor when he noticed something small and shiny bounce off of his shoe as he ran.

"Fuck!" Zuko hissed, stopping in his tracks to search for the ring that had dropped among the ruins. Katara's pace carried her past him, but she slowed to a stop when she realised he wasn't running next to her anymore. She paused at the foot of the courtyard's entrance to glance back at Zuko.

"Zuko, come on! What the hell are you doing?" Katara shouted.

He wasn't leaving without the ring. It was stupid, Zuko knew; he was risking his life and Katara's to look for it. Zuko could feel his charred ring in his pocket, so it was Katara's that had fallen out. He was aware that the ring was just a piece of plastic, but it felt too important to leave behind. It was a symbol of their marriage, after all - what would happen to them if Zuko left this ring behind in the burned ruins? He was on his hands and knees, Katara's boots by his side, frantically feeling the floor around him for the tiny plastic band.

"Ah!" Zuko cried as spotted it, lying on the ground a few feet from him, already half covered in dust and dirt. Zuko picked it up and slid it onto his pinkie finger, the only finger small enough to fit Katara's ring size, as he was worried that if he put it back in his pocket it would fall out again.

As Zuko stood up from the ground, picking up Katara's shoes and preparing to sprint again, another bomb went off nearby.

Katara ducked, flinching from the noise and vibration, raising her arms over her head. Zuko watched in horror as the ceiling and archway above her began to crumble and disintegrate.

"Look out!" Zuko shouted as he surged forwards, grabbing Katara by the waist and tackling her through the archway. They fell through the air, Zuko skidding onto his back to take the impact of the landing. The momentum caused them to roll across the ground, into the exposed courtyard. Katara was closer to the floor while they lay on their stomachs, and Zuko kept her pinned to the ground as he caught his breath and assessed their surroundings.

"What are you doing?" Katara asked, confused as to why they were still lying on the ground.

"Stopping you from being crushed by rocks," Zuko snapped, irritated by her lack of gratitude.

"Well good work. I'm not crushed, so you can get off me now," Katara grunted as she tried to push herself up from under Zuko's arm. She grabbed her boots, which had fallen a few feet from them, and ran towards the metal shutters. Or at least, what remained of them; there were gaps in them large enough for her to fit through.

"I'll take that as a thank you," Zuko responded sarcastically as stood up. Zuko stared at the enemy air balloons hovering across the canyon, recognising the insignia immediately.

Katara jumped through the gaps in the steel panels, joining the others, and Zuko quickly followed suit. He grabbed Sokka and forced him to hold out his hand where he proceeded to deposit his burned ring, Katara's ring which he slid off of his finger, and the marriage certificate which he had nestled under his shirt.

"Please look after these," Zuko grunted as he began to run away from the group, hopping over the remains of the shutters.

"Zuko! What are you doing?" Toph called.

"I'll hold them off!" He yelled back. "I think this is a family reunion." Zuko sprinted towards the fountain and the cliff edge, hoping to draw the attacker's attention.

"Zuko, no!" Aang yelled, moving to follow his firebending master before Sokka held him back.

"It's gonna be okay, Aang, let's just get the others out of here."

The fourth wall in their box was not made of steel, but was part of the mountain. While Zuko had gone to grab Katara, Toph and Haru had used their earthbending to create a tunnel through it, leading to safety. Katara stared at the group of people waiting at the tunnel entrance: Haru, the Duke, Teo, and her father. Hakoda rushed forward and swept Katara up into a big hug.

"I couldn't leave without knowing you were okay," he told her. Katara pushed her father away, looking at her brother and friends.

"Why are we not going with them?!" Katara asked, her voice panicked.

"Appa won't go underground. We already tried, but he won't go, not after what happened in the Cave of Two lovers," Sokka explained gently. Appa roared in the background as Aang tried to guide him out of the corner. "We're staying with Aang, and the others are using the tunnel to get to Zuko's air ship."

"I'm sorry to break this up, but you guys need to go before we all become part of the rubble," Toph interrupted, struggling to hold the tunnel's form under all the shaking rock.

"No! It's too soon! The Fire Nation can't separate our family again," Katara argued, turning back to her father. "You can't leave, we just got you back!"

"It'll be okay, Katara. It's not forever," Hakoda promised her.

Katara stared up at her father for another moment before resigning herself to the fact that there was no time left to debate it. She tightened her arms around him briefly before nodding and turning away. She climbed onto Appa while Sokka hugged his father goodbye. After letting Hakoda go, Haru's group began sprinting down their escape route. Sokka pulled Suki with him towards Appa, and Katara helped lift the Kyoshi Warrior up into the saddle. Toph placed her hand against the shaking cliff edge in an attempt to ground herself so she could see her surroundings better.

"I can clear that away and we can fly out through there!" Toph yelled to the group as she pointed in the direction of a wall of debris. She used her earthbending to push herself up onto Appa.

"Um, there's an awful lot of fire in that direction," Suki mumbled nervously.

"We'll get through," Aang said as he grasped Appa's reigns. "Let's go."

Zuko swerved past another canister explosion, jumping through the smoke until he finally reached the edge, aiming several fireballs at the ship in front of him. The smoke cleared enough for him to see Azula watching from her airship on a raised platform. Her sadistic smirk and overly-confident stance confirmed what Zuko had already suspected when the first explosion went off.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko shouted.

"Isn't it obvious yet?" Azula held the railing with both hands while she tipped her head back, laughing manically. "I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child," she called back at him in delight. Still holding the railing, Azula flipped forward, sending a spiralling stream of blue fire from her feet straight at Zuko.

Zuko knew that Azula's fire would have a much bigger impact than any of the canisters. He ran for his life, jumping over the fountain as her attack obliterated it to smithereens. The impact of the explosion knocked Zuko forward, and he grunted in pain as he rolled onto the ground, coughing as he inhaled the smoke. Zuko knew that the canister explosions were only a warm up for what Azula really had planned.

The temple pillars began to crumble, with more rocks crashing down and the ground itself beginning to give way as the temple fell to pieces. Not one to back away from a fight, Zuko used the growing pile of rocks and debris as his base of attack as he ran forwards, launching himself into the air. Mid-jump, Zuko seriously regretted his decision as his momentum began to slow. The cliff face and nothingness hung beneath him, and Zuko kicked his legs in a running motion, circling his arms to propel himself further. He landed in a grateful heap onto the nearest air-balloon ship, clinging to its side for dear life.

The gang burst out from under the rubble, with Aang earthbending a shield of rocks in front of Appa to protect themselves as Azula shot fire towards them. Azula ducked as they blindly flew right over her before turning back to find Zuko. Aang dropped the rocks to allow himself to see and steer properly. Sokka, Katara, Suki, and Momo all looked back from Appa's saddle to watch Zuko face Azula.

Zuko had climbed to the top of the airship he was on, facing his sister's ship across from where she stood. He had never really thought that it would come to this; battling Azula on airships while she tried to kill him. But he had always sort of known that when he left their family as a "traitor", Azula wouldn't hold back; he had just hoped she would aim for imprisonment over murder. Either way, Zuko was determined to stop her from capturing his friends.

He ran forward, using his firebending to push him off of the ship and through the air. Azula stood, waiting, and sent a deadly blast of blue fire with a precise flick of her hand. He blocked it mid-air with a kick as he landed. He countered with a punch of his own, causing Azula to jump back, giving him enough time to land safely on the side of the ship. Azula sliced her arm through the air, sending a line of fire which Zuko avoided and blocked with a kick.

"And I'll have to get rid of your poor wife too," Azula said tauntingly. "I can't go and leave her as a widow with a potential heir to my throne, can I?"

Azula tried to push Zuko onto the defensive, but he continued to fire attacks as he made strides up the side of the ship. He was aware that he needed to keep his momentum moving forward to avoid being pushed backwards off the ship.

Katara was well out of earshot for Azula's threats. Aang was busy swerving Appa through the onslaught of attacks from the airships through the canyon whilst Katara stood in the middle of Appa's saddle, using her waterbending to deflect any remaining attacks from behind. They were heading straight into a ship, with several firebenders ready to blast from the side, causing Aang to pull Appa up into a steep incline and began circling back towards Zuko. Everyone screamed while they struggled to maintain their place on-board.

Zuko knew Azula was just trying to rile him up, but she had always been good at it, and knew which buttons to push. What infuriated Zuko the most was that he doubted Azula was lying - he wouldn't put it past her to kill Katara because she was married to him.

"No!" Zuko shouted, continuing to block Azula's attacks as he neared the top edge of the balloon. They were nearly on equal footing, and Azula snarled in fury with each step that he took forwards.

Azula threw a number of hits in his direction before she surged towards him, aiming her backhand fist at him.

"Argh!" Zuko yelled as he simultaneously blocked her offence and countered with his own backhand fist, flying towards hers. Their punches met across the short distance simultaneously and the impact from the explosion of fire sent them both flailing backwards down different sides of the airship.

Azula bounced onto her back, her body somersaulting as she fell backwards, spinning through the air as she fell. Meanwhile, Zuko rolled down his side of the ship, unable to grab onto anything to steady him; he also plummeted down, free-falling through the sky.

Katara watched as Zuko fell. For the most selfish of moments, it crossed her mind that if they didn't catch him, Katara wouldn't have to worry about being married to him anymore. But for the most part, she felt fear as she watched him fall. Katara pushed the ugly thought away and stood up, stretching her arms out towards Zuko as Aang steered Appa underneath the skydiving firebender. Katara felt a surge of emotions Zuko plummeted towards them; and she didn't want to think about why she was so nervous about him or why, when their hands finally made contact and she grabbed hold of him to pull him down into the saddle, she felt such a rush of relief. Zuko had saved her life, and she owed him for that, she tried to reassure herself A life for a life.

Zuko's landing into the saddle was far from graceful; he was a heap of limbs, half in Katara's lap and half face first on the saddle.

"Thank you," Zuko gasped as he righted himself into a seated position, watching in disbelief as Azula continued to spin through the air. "She's not going to make it."

As if Azula heard him, she suddenly flipped, kicking fire from her legs to propel herself towards the mountain wall. She used a clip from her hair to stop her descent, scraping it against the cliff face as she slowed to a halt. She hung there while she watched Zuko and the group fly off.

"Of course she did," Zuko muttered to himself.

Everyone sat in silence, catching their breath and calming their heartrates. Katara moved to sit next to Sokka, putting on her shoes for the first time that day. She curled up against her brother's side, relieved that they were safe but very aware that they were separated from their father _again._

"I hope Dad and the others are okay," she murmured, and Sokka nodded his head in understanding; he hoped they were all okay too.

After a while, once Katara could no longer hear her heart hammering in her ears, she managed to drift off to sleep, her head resting on Sokka's shoulder. She was finally catching up on her lost hours while they were in the safety of Appa's saddle.

Sokka waited until he was sure Katara was deeply asleep before reaching into his shirt, carefully, with the arm that she wasn't resting against. He pulled out the document Zuko had shoved at him earlier, and held it out to the firebender. Zuko reached across the saddle to take the paper, and the rings Sokka subsequently pulled from his pocket.

"Thank you," Zuko said quietly.

Zuko stared at the two rings in his hand. His was no longer a perfect circle that would fit around a finger; it was burned and blackened, melted into an odd shape. Katara's ring looked immaculate in comparison; even though it was a little dirty, it still held its tacky plastic shine and neat shape. Was that how Zuko looked next to Katara?

"What are those?" Suki asked in confusion.

"Our wedding rings." Zuko answered grimly.

"Plastic and… charred plastic?"

"I didn't exactly have time to go ring shopping." Zuko rolled his eyes as he defended the rings. "Unless there was a gift shop aboard that prison ship that I missed?"

"I meant to get a key chain from there before we left," Suki shrugged.

"Thank you for going to get Katara earlier," Sokka added quietly. "I know there wasn't time for him to say it earlier, but I know my Dad thanks you too. He was impressed at how quickly you acted."

Zuko nodded, unsure of how to answer. He looked over at Katara's sleeping form and thought about giving Katara the ring back, or asking Sokka to slip it into one of her pockets. Zuko hoped that maybe after he had saved her life and she had saved his that she would trust him again, and they could be amicable enough that she would be ok with keeping her wedding ring. But Zuko was not an optimist, and he had learned his lesson several times over in the past few weeks; if he presented Katara with her ring now, she would just see all of his previous actions as attempts to force her into accepting their marriage.

Zuko sighed, and slid both rings back into his pocket. Maybe another time.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Thank you so much for the reviews and the support!

Also I'm sorry if people think this chapter is too similar to the canon; I'm following the season 3 storyline and this chapter just wasn't part of my plot that will diverge from the canon storyline. Please appreciate it as a chapter building up for the next chapter, I'm just trying to move my story along.

* * *

Everyone was in high spirits when they landed at the safe point to make camp for the night. The group pitched the tents which had been stored in Appa's saddle, and Katara started cooking the rice for dinner by the fire whilst Sokka put up her tent. Everyone seemed happy as they had managed to survive Azula's attack.

But Katara didn't share the same sense of relief; she was still stewing over the fact she had finally begun to resolve issues with her father only to be separated again. All this war ever did was rip her away from the people she loved. The bitter string of being separated from her father yet again had reminded her that she would never be reunited with her mother.

"Wow, camping. It really seems like old times again, doesn't it?" Aang commented to the group over dinner, breaking Katara out of her dejected reverie.

"Well this is my first time camping _with_ you guys. If you really want it to feel like old times, I could, uh, chase you around for a while and try to capture you," Zuko joked.

Everyone around the campfire laughed except Katara. They were about a fortnight away from the arrival of Sozin's Comet, and Zuko wanted to make jokes about how he used to try and capture the world's only hope?

"Ha, ha," she remarked sarcastically, staring into the fire as the pot of rice simmered below her. Sokka's laugh faded into an awkward sigh as he ignored his sister's bad mood. He held his drink up to the centre of the group.

"To Zuko," Sokka toasted. "Who knew that after all those times he was sort of an ass-hole, today he'd be our hero!"

"Hear, hear!" Aang, Suki and Toph toasted back, raising their drinks. Toph punched Zuko not so lightly in the arm as he sat there, stunned.

"I'm touched," Zuko admitted, blushing slightly. "I don't deserve this."

Katara could feel her blood boiling. He didn't deserve it at all! It was Zuko's fault that the Air Temple had been discovered, since it was his psychopathic sister who had found them.

Zuko brought trouble with him, whether he meant to or not, due to his messed up and evil family. She shuddered to think that she was, by law, part of that very family now. Katara grit her teeth and fought the urge to physically shake her head at the thought; she could never be tied to the fire nation - they had murdered her mother.

It would have been hard enough for Katara to accept Zuko into the group as it was, but it was ten times worse with them being married. For so long, Zuko had been the face of the enemy. Zuko had been their _actual_ enemy for the better part of a year! In Katara's mind, Zuko represented the whole of the Fire Nation, his royalty making him a symbol of their people, even if he was on their side now. How could she be married to someone who was part of the culture that had destroyed hers? It disgraced the memory of her late mother. Why on earth did the others feel like celebrating him?

"Finally, something we agree on," Katara muttered as she stood up from her seat on the ground and left the group without another word.

Everyone stared after her in confusion.

"Ugh, what's with her?" Sokka asked.

"I wish I knew," Zuko answered, standing up slowly before following Katara.

"What's with him?!" Sokka asked in confusion.

Zuko followed Katara to her seat by the cliff edge. The sky was dark and cloudy, but the nearly full moon shone through at intervals. Katara glanced up at the sound of an intruder. When she saw it was Zuko, Katara glared at him. She pushed herself up once more, and began to stomp away.

Zuko's patience had reached its limit. He knew better than to follow Katara in one of her bad moods and bait her but he couldn't take it anymore! Every time Zuko thought that he might finally be moving in a positive direction with Katara, she turned around and found a way to hate him even more.

Zuko knew that Katara maintained that she had plenty of reasons to hate him: his actions in Ba Sing Se, trying to capture Aang, marrying her, having sex with her on their wedding night, being from the Fire Nation. But hadn't his actions in the past month made up for any of that?

"This isn't fair!" Zuko flung his arms out wide as he called after her, exasperated. "Everyone else seems to trust me now! What is it with you?"

Katara did trust him. That was the problem. He had helped Aang, had helped Sokka, had rescued Suki and her father, and had saved her life as well as facing off against his own sister.

It had hit Katara the morning Zuko had gone to her room to wake her up and help her escape -she trusted him again. But it wasn't because he'd come back for her; no, she realised it when he had picked up her shoes and when he had stopped during their escape, risking both of their lives, just for one of those stupid rings. He'd thought of the shoes and rings before she did, and it had shown Katara that when it came down to it, in a moment against his family and the Fire Nation, he had cared about her more.

She trusted him. And Katara was furious at herself, because she didn't _want_ to trust him again. She had let her guard down with Zuko before, and it had ended horrifically. Yet she'd been unable to stop herself from giving him her trust again regardless.

If Zuko could just be the horrible person he used to be, then everything would be so much simpler; Katara could justifiably hate him and not have to feel bad about it. She was angry because his actions challenged her perception that the Fire Nation was inherently evil, and that _he_ was evil, and those challenges made everything so much more confusing. Why couldn't Zuko just leave her alone? Why couldn't he accept she didn't want to be friends with him, and that she would prefer to hate him?

"Oh, everyone trusts you now?" Katara turned away from the sea view to snarl at him. "I was the _first_ one to trust you, remember? Back in Ba Sing Se, and you betrayed me! You betrayed all of us!"

Zuko scowled at the memory. His decisions under the crystal catacombs had not been his finest moments. How long would it take to make up for his mistakes there? Would she ever forgive him?

"What can I do to make it up to you?" Zuko had grown up knowing that his parents didn't love each other. He decided that if he was going to have a loveless marriage with Katara, then at least he could try to have a marriage where his wife didn't openly hate him.

"You really want to know?" Katara began to step towards him. "Hmm, maybe you could reconquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King," She took another few steps until she was face to face with him, her head tilted up so she could glare up at him. "Or, I know! You could bring my mother back!" She shouted in his face.

Zuko sighed when Katara shoved past him. Was that it then? He could risk his life countless times trying to save her, her friends, and her family, but Katara would never forgive him for his actions in Ba Sing Se? He had betrayed the whole group with his mistake, Aang in particular – the boy had nearly died! But they had forgiven him. What was holding Katara back from doing the same?

Zuko spun around, grabbing her by the wrist to whirl her back towards him.

"So you blame me for your mother?" His voice was low.

"What?" Katara blinked at him in surprise.

"You're mad at me because of... your mother? That's why you won't trust me?" Zuko rephrased the question. He was trying to understand, not throw her mother's death in her face. It was the second time she had brought it up with him; he remembered her mentioning it in the Crystal Catacombs in Ba Sing Se. Could it be that she had connected her anger over her mother to her anger at him?

"I'm mad at you because you betrayed me in Ba Sing Se, and… and you're Fire Nation! You're the Prince of a country that has destroyed my culture and my family! That's why!" Katara spluttered defensively.

"What happened to her?" Zuko asked, his eyes brimming with sympathy.

Katara wrenched herself from his grasp and hurried away. With the back of her hand, she wiped away the angry tears that had sprung from the corner of her eyes as she walked, hot against her face in the night's cold air.

It had been a long day, Katara justified to herself. She was allowed to cry; that didn't make her weak. It wasn't weak of her to admit to herself that the grief still ached like a hollow hole in her heart. She knew that she could be strong even, if she still felt incomplete without her mother. Katara swallowed the lump forming in the back of her throat as she walked through camp and headed straight to the privacy of her tent. She undressed down to her bindings and climbed into her sleeping bag, where she laid in the dark, staring up at the tent ceiling. While she waited for sleep to overcome her, occasionally Katara wiped at the tears that dripped down her cheeks.

It had been so long without her mother, Katara could no longer tell if she clung to the pain of losing Kya, or if the pain clung to her, like a second skin. They were so interwoven at this point, Katara wasn't sure if she could be distinguished from her quiet pain now.

Zuko had stayed by the cliff edge, sitting down to process their recent argument and debate his new choices. Things between him and Katara had to change; Zuko knew that they would struggle to win the war if they couldn't all work together as a team. But, finally, he had an idea about how to help Katara move past her anger. Zuko made his way towards Sokka's tent.

In the morning, Katara emerged from her tent to make a start on breakfast. As she stepped out into the sunlight, Katara stared in disbelief at the semi-conscious Zuko sitting in front of her. He was perched on one of the low rocks, with his elbows resting on his knees and his head dropping at a slight angle. At the sound of her movement, Zuko's head quickly snapped up.

"You look terrible!" Katara criticised as she walked past him briskly. She reached into her bag for her comb and began brushing her hair, her back to Zuko in an attempt to ignore him and start her day.

"I waited out here all night," he told her, standing up. Katara tried to not let her hand still on the comb in her hair as she processed Zuko's words.

"What do you want?" She refused to let any pity colour her voice.

"I know who killed your mother," he declared from behind her. Katara's whole body froze at his words. "And I'm going to help you find him."

Katara turned around, staring at Zuko cautiously. Part of her wanted to jump at his offer immediately - this was the closure that she had thought she'd never get. But another part of her brain reminded katara that she shouldn't let Zuko get her hopes up. He'd let her down before.

She tilted her head up to stare directly into his tired eyes.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," she warned him.

Zuko stared her down. "Let me help you, Katara. I can help with this."

They stood like that, staring hard at each other, until Katara spoke again.

"Okay, but we do this my way," she said firmly. "Do you understand?"

Zuko nodded. He explained that he had figured out which soldiers had attacked her tribe using the information that Sokka had told him the night before, and that he knew how to find the Southern Raiders from military meetings with his father.

Together, they made their way towards Appa, Zuko with a bag of supplies slung over his shoulder. Aang was already awake, feeding a content Appa, and he waved at them as they approached.

"I need to borrow Appa," Katara told Aang.

"Why?" Aang asked as he turned back to the sky-bison. "Is it your turn to take a little field-trip with Zuko?" he joked.

"Yes. It is."

Aang swung back around to Katara, confused by her serious tone.

"Wait, what? What's going on?" He asked, concerned.

"We're going to find the man who took my mother from me," Katara declared.

Sokka had just exited from his nearby tent, and looked over in alarm at his sister's words.

"Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it and I know how to find him," Zuko explained.

Aang frowned at them both. "Um, and what exactly do you hope to accomplish by finding this guy?" he asked sceptically.

Katara looked away, her shoulders slumping slightly and she walked past the avatar. "I knew you wouldn't understand," she grumbled.

"Wait, stop!" Aang called out, nervous about upsetting her. "I do understand! You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sand-benders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?"

Katara wanted to turn around and tell Aang that she had been with him both of those times; she had seen him in his states of incredible pain and fury, and had let him express his emotions. She'd only stepped in when Aang had posed a serious threat, putting herself at risk to provide him with comfort and support both times. But she didn't need to turn around and say any of that because before she could open her mouth, Zuko had already jumped to her defence.

"She needs this, Aang," Zuko argued. "This is about getting closure and justice."

"I don't think so. I think this is about getting revenge," Aang disagreed.

"Fine! Maybe it is," Katara admitted angrily, spinning back to face him. "Maybe that's what I _need_. Maybe that's what he deserves."

This wasn't about bringing her mother back; Katara knew that it was impossible. And she knew that second to having her mother alive again, nothing else would really compare - nothing would satisfy that loss. She had been so helpless when her mother died that Katara couldn't pass up on the chance to get some sort of ending to it all. She couldn't leave the situation as it was.

Sokka stepped forward, his face frozen in a horrified mask. "Katara, she was my mother too," he said. "But I think Aang might be right. This won't bring her back, and it's not going to make you happy."

Katara gaped at her brother. How could he not want justice for their murdered mother?

"How can you say that?" She yelled at him. "Then you didn't love her like I did!"

"Katara!" He looked stricken.

A silence hung in the air between the four of them. Katara wanted to take her words back; she hadn't meant to hurt her brother. But she couldn't back down now. She was right about hunting down this man.

Aang closed his eyes, disappointed. "The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper: while you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."

"That's cute. But this isn't Air Temple pre-school. It's the real world," Zuko cut in.

"I'm talking about the real world!" Aang urged. "Think about it! Sozin's Comet is fast approaching, we can't afford any time wasting distractions. We don't have time for you both to go away on a field-trip, I need Zuko here to keep teaching me firebending."

"This is not a time wasting distraction!" Katara yelled.

"He'll still be there after we end the war, why don't you wait a few weeks to cool down and _then_ make a decision about the man?" Aang suggested, scratching his head nervously.

"Now that I know he's out there - now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice," Katara told Aang and Sokka, her voice firm.

"Katara, you do have a choice. Forgiveness," Aang pleaded.

"That's the same as doing nothing," Zuko argued.

"No, it's not." Aang replied softly. "It's easy to do nothing. But it's hard to forgive."

Katara stood next to Zuko and tried not to snap at Aang and Sokka. She just wanted them to understand. She wished she could do as Aang was suggesting- let go of her pain and forgive the man who killed her mother. But she couldn't. The notion was absurd to her. Zuko was right; just as Aang wasn't raised in a small family with a mother figure like she was, Katara wasn't raised on air-temple principles, and thus what Aang was suggesting wasn't an option for her. Aang wasn't looking at the situation from her point of view - he couldn't understand.

"It's not just hard. It's impossible," Katara told him.

"I won't let you use Appa for this. It's wrong!" Aang cried. "I know what he did was wrong, but that doesn't justify revenge. We need to focus on the war. Don't go," Aang tried to order her.

Katara thought about walking away to just sneak back later and steal Appa. But she didn't want to wait any longer.

"I need to do this. I'm _going_ to do this. If you stand in my way then I will still find a way to go and it will just take me even longer to do it. So you can either delay this or you can just support me," Katara snapped.

Aang stared at the ground for a while, and then looked back at Katara.

"I'm not going to support revenge. But I won't stand in the way," he said. "I can see that this is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man." Katara nodded at him, and began to climb up onto Appa. "But when you do, please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out and then let it go. Forgive him," Aang advised.

Zuko climbed into the saddle with their supplies as Katara took hold of the reigns. Sokka watched them both, standing next to Aang wordlessly. He was clearly too stunned by Katara's earlier comment to intervene any further.

"Thanks for understanding, Aang," Katara said, even though she wasn't sure Aang truly understood how much she needed this. "Yip, yip."


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

* * *

Zuko woke from his sleep, his body curled on the floor of Appa's saddle. He groggily lifted himself so he was sitting, his legs crossed as he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm. In front of him, Zuko could see Katara's stiff back as she steered Appa over the vast expanse of sea. The sky was hinting that dawn would soon break over the horizon.

"You should get some rest to save your strength, I can steer for a while," Zuko suggested to her. His voice was rough and low, his mind still half-asleep.

"Don't worry about my strength." Katara didn't even bother to look back at him while she spoke. "I've got plenty."

Zuko frowned at her back, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. He was aware that Katara was determined, but Zuko was worried that she was going to be stubborn to the point of stupidity, to the point that it weakened her rather than fuelled her. The only thing stopping him from arguing the point further with her was the empathy he felt; Zuko knew that stubborn determination well from when he had chased the Avatar for years. It was because he understood how Katara felt, having that taunting target finally so close, that he knew he would not be able to change her mind.

They had already agreed that they would sneak into a Fire Navy communications tower as every tower had to be up to date on where each navy division was deployed. Occasionally the towers had archived information regarding the higher ranking officers, and contact details should communication with them be necessary. The key to their mission was to not be spotted, otherwise the Southern Raiders' fleet would be tipped off long before Katara and Zuko could ambush them.

Katara landed Appa on a nearby rock. The tide was low enough that it made for a perfect landing spot, with no one around to notice them. Cloaked in their black tops with masks the bottom half of their faces, they headed towards the tower. Zuko followed as Katara bent a patch of ice large enough for them to float on. They jumped onto it, and Katara accelerated them forwards towards the island on which the communication tower stood. Katara raised the wave and, together, she and Zuko jumped off of the ice float and vaulted themselves neatly over a low wall before shooting across the paved walkway. They hid around a corner while a guard walked past on patrol, oblivious to them.

Successfully managing to sneak into the tower without being detected, Katara and Zuko crept into the air vents to scout the rooms. After a little while, they spotted a small room which looked promising: a large map of what appeared to be current naval routes lay on a wooden table, and Katara and Zuko nodded at each other to confirm that they wanted to check it out. A guard sat in the middle of the room at a desk, writing a letter. Katara bent the ink out of the pot, spilling it across the page and smearing the careful writing. The guard blinked in surprise before angrily standing up and leaving the room to find something to clean the mess with. Zuko and Katara quickly dropped down from the air vent into the room, and began to look for the Southern Raiders on the map.

It was too late when they heard the door open behind them.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?" A guard asked, shocked. He readied his stance to firebend but, before he could, Katara stopped fell into a stance Zuko didn't recognise, and the guard froze.

She was bloodbending.

Katara lifted the guard up into the air slightly, his toes just brushing the floor, before lowering him to his knees on the ground, his arms bent at painful angles behind him.

Zuko's eyes widened in shock, but he remained silent as he watched. It wasn't his place to judge Katara for her abilities.

Katara had a strong hold on the guard; he couldn't talk, but kept trying to make noises from behind his numb lips.

"I'm going to let you speak because we need information. If you call for help, I'll break a limb. It might be your arm or it might be your neck," Katara threatened. She hadn't expected to use her bloodbending - it wasn't something she enjoyed - but there was no time for a battle. The guard had needed to be subdued instantly, and Katara had reacted before she could even think about what she was doing.

Katara kept the guard's mouth shut, but allowed him movement of his head. He nodded cautiously at her.

"I need to get some information on a commander in chief. Where can we get that?" She asked bluntly. Katara eased her hold on the guard's face.

"Okay! Okay!" The officer squeaked. "There are files on Commanders and other officers in a cabinet through that door. The room should be empty."

"How do we know that's true? You're aware that I'll kill you instantly if it's a trap."

The guard gulped anxiously at Katara's words.

"I swear, it's true," he pleaded.

Katara kept the guard under her control whilst Zuko cautiously walked to the door and cabinet. Hesitantly, he opened the door, ready for an assault, but the room was small and unguarded.

"Clear," he called quietly to Katara.

Zuko searched through the cabinets for the section on the Southern Raiders Special Forces unit. He managed to find the file of the unit's Commander in Chief, but when looking for a location on a current expedition he noticed that the Commander was appointed four years ago. He knew that Katara's mother had passed before that time.

Zuko peeked his head back around the door frame; the guard was still quaking in his twisted position.

"I need the name of the Commander in Chief of the Southern Raiders unit. Not the current one, the one from…" Zuko looked over at Katara. "How many years ago?"

"Seven," Katara answered firmly.

"I'm not sure!" The guard replied, panicked.

"Think," Katara suggested in a hard tone, tightening her grip.

"Uh, Yon… something?

Zuko searched through the file names for a Yon.

"Yon Rha?" Zuko checked.

"Yes! I think so! Yon Rha."

Zuko checked a couple more times, but there was only one Yon filed as a commander. Checking the file, Zuko saw that Yon Rha had been Commander during the time of the raid on Katara's village.

They had found him.

Zuko began to scan the record, searching for where they could find him now.

Zuko felt his limbs freeze up momentarily. It was like his legs and arms had turned to stone, and the only thing he could move was his head. He looked over at Katara, half expecting her to have used blood bending onto him for whatever reason. But she stared back at him in anticipation, waiting for information, and Zuko realised that his immobilisation was internal.

He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. If he'd been with Sokka, he would have sworn. But it felt inappropriate to swear now; not because it was in front of Katara, but because there was no swear word that would do the situation justice.

There was no justice for this situation at all.

He looked away from Katara and then back to the file, his head bowed. He had taken her here to confront her unleashed feelings, but now she'd never be able to get closure. He wanted to deliver the man responsible for her pain to her, had promised her that he would take her to him, and now he couldn't.

Yon Rha was dead. A stamp on the corner of the page read in clear, bold letters: DECEASED.

Zuko stared at the page. He half-hoped that if he just kept looking at it, then a solution would emerge on the page. But the DECEASED stamp stayed where it was, mocking him. Zuko was also trying to work out what to say to Katara - he couldn't just break the news to her while she had a hold on the guard with her blood bending. What if she accidentally killed him from the shock of the news?

It was then that Zuko noticed the next of kin section.

Zuko wanted to put the file away, to take Katara from the tower and tell her the bad news without mentioning anything else from the file. But he knew that there was no way Katara was just going to walk her away from her mission. This was her decision to make.

"I've got it," Zuko finally said. "Let's go."

Katara gave Zuko a look of suspicion, clearly wondering why he took so long to read the file. But she nodded at his words, and dropped the exhausted guard to the ground. As they began to make their escape with the file, Katara looked back at the guard, her face conflicted.

Zuko gently placed his hand on her arm. "Just leave him, he can't hurt us," He whispered to her.

"But he saw us and, he knows who we're looking for." Katara explained in a strained tone.

"Then knock him out so we can escape. He can't identify us, and we'll have a head start."

Katara had never used her bloodbending to render a person unconscious, and feared that doing it incorrectly could kill the guard by accident. So instead, she released the guard from her hold and picked up the nearby heavy ink pot. Before he could protest, Katara whacked the guard around the head with the base of it, and she and Zuko stared at the officer as he crumpled to the ground.

Quickly, they made their way back to Appa, following the route they had used to break in. It was only once they had stepped off of Katara's floating patch of ice to bring them to safety and were climbing onto Appa that they spoke again. Zuko had been bracing himself for the conversation that was about to ensue, but was determined that it was better that he deal with Katara's reaction alone, rather than with Fire Nation bystanders surrounding them.

"What was that back there? He's not with the Southern Raiders anymore?" Katara questioned.

Zuko shook his head at her, finding his words.

"Do you have the location of where he is now? Where are we going next?" Katara asked gruffly as she pulled out the map.

"It's up to you," Zuko answered.

Katara's head snapped up from the map to glare at him.

"What do you mean it's up to me? Where is he!?" she growled.

"It's your decision how we continue from here," Zuko answered calmly as he held out the file to Katara. He stood in front of her as she read in the early morning light.

Zuko watched her eyes scan the file, and saw the exact second they fell upon the big stamp on the corner of the page.

"Deceased." Katara silently mouthed the word to herself, her eyes wide with shock.

Katara stared at the stamp quietly. Zuko felt like he was standing next to a bomb, waiting for her to explode. He watched as the realisation hit her that there was no man to answer her questions; Yon Rha had died, and now Katara could never exact her revenge on him.

"No!" Katara shrieked after a tense moment. She flung the file away from herself and threw her hands up, grabbing at her hair in angry despair. Zuko watched as her eyes turned wild, flitting from side to side, unable to settle on something. "No! No!"

She looked up at him, her eyes filled with fury. Zuko had thought she hated him, but the anger she had pierced him with before was nothing compared to the rage on her face now. She lunged forward, tackling him to the floor of Appa's saddle.

Appa growled in disapproval at the violence occurring on his back. Katara sat on top of Zuko's legs as she leaned over him, her hands gripped at the collar on Zuko's tunic. She shook him roughly.

"It's not fair! He killed her! He killed her and then he died on his own terms! That's not fair! This was all for nothing!" Katara shouted in his face.

"It's not over," Zuko told her.

Katara's breath caught, and for a moment she was silent and still on top of him.

"He has a sister," Zuko admitted.

Zuko was afraid of what Katara would do with the news, but he knew that it wasn't his choice to keep the information from her. This was her situation to deal with, and it would be her decision on how she used it to get closure.

Katara's hands limply held the edge of Zuko's shirt, her breathing shaky whilst she took the information in.

"Where is she?" Katara asked, her low voice a stark contrast to her previous yelling.

"It's the same town Yon Rha lived in. The files a few years old, the information could be outdated, but it's likely she's still there."

She leaned back and let go of his shirt. "I want to meet her," Katara said firmly. A grim frown was etched across her face, and Zuko could see her obvious disappointment over the situation. But Zuko knew she would want to see this out to whatever end she could.

Slowly, Katara got up off of Zuko, and offered him a hand to pull him to his feet in return. Zuko stared at her in the moonlight as he took her hand, trying to figure out what she meant by "meet". But it was impossible to read Katara's face; the fierce determination from before was back in her eyes.

"Then we'll go meet her," Zuko agreed. They quickly worked out their new direction and set off on Appa into the night sky. The town wasn't too far on the map, and they calculated that it would only take a few hours before they would arrive in the late hours of the afternoon.

"The Southern Raiders…" Zuko began. Katara looked over her shoulder at him, surprised at the sound of his voice. They'd been mostly silent so far while flying. "They're not a normal military division; they're a Special Forces unit. Ozai tasked them with eradicating all waterbenders in the South."

"And?" Katara asked, confused as to what point Zuko was trying to make other than increase Katara's hatred for Firelord Ozai. She turned back to the sea.

"I didn't know… was your mother a waterbender too?"

"No," Katara replied. "She was a harmless civilian. Didn't Sokka tell you the story?"

"Only about the raid. He didn't know much about what actually happened to your mother…"

Katara paused, staring up at the sky in silence. She took a deep breath, and began to speak quietly.

"We saw the soot falling with the snow," she began, "and I ran to find our mom. But when I made it to our home, there was already a Fire Navy solider there. My mom said to him 'Just let her go and I'll give you the information you want.'" Katara bit back the beginning of a sob at her last memory of her mother. "The guard yelled at me to leave, but I wanted to run to my mom. I was scared and I needed her reassurance. She told me 'go find your Dad, sweetie, I'll handle this.' So I did. I began to leave, but I looked up and saw the face of that man standing in our home. And I swear, I'll never forget his stony face and cold eyes."

Katara moved to hug her knees as she talked, still staring at the ocean in front of her. "I ran as fast as I could to get to my Dad. He was fighting other soldiers, and I yelled to him about the man in our home. Together, we ran back, but… we were too late. When we got there, the man was gone. And so was she."

Zuko paused for a moment, taking her story in. "Your mother was a brave woman," he finally said.

Katara touched her mother's necklace around her neck. "I know."

It was a few more hours of flying before they talked again.

"We're here," Katara commented as a valley in the mountains came into view.

Rather than his usual descent, Appa began to hurtle towards the land. He crashed into the ground, with no attempt at slowing down, and skidded along the ground sluggishly. Both Zuko and Katara gripped on for dear life to avoid falling out.

"Well that wasn't the smoothest landing," Zuko commented dryly. They both quickly jumped off of Appa to inspect him for any injuries. Appa just laid there, grunting occasionally.

"What's wrong, buddy?" Katara asked as she inspected Appa's eyes and his mouth for any signs of illness.

Appa yawned loudly in response.

"I'm no doctor, but he looks exhausted," Zuko suggested. Katara narrowed her eyes at him, like he and Appa were somehow collaborating to sabotage her mission. But then she looked back over at the sky bison, and Zuko saw sympathy for him wash over her.

Katara's frown was back. "He does look pretty tired. He'll need to rest for at least a few hours," she admitted.

Appa groaned louder.

"I think he wants more than a _few_ hours."

"I didn't know you spoke sky-bison," Katara shot back. "So what, we're stuck in this town?" Katara asked dismayed.

Zuko nodded regretfully. "Whatever you had planned is going to have to wait until we have a quick getaway again."

"Ugh! This is all a disaster. Do all of your little field trips typically go this well?" Katara asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Zuko thought about his trip with Aang, when they'd been stuck in goo after they'd just escaped suffocation over a golden egg, and when he was held prisoner on a Fire Nation ship when he was helping Sokka find Hakoda. He wasn't even going to _start_ thinking about any of his failed missions when he was chasing the Avatar.

"Pretty much, yeah." Zuko shrugged as he patted Appa sympathetically.

Katara leaned her back against Appa's side as she brought her hands to her face and groaned in frustration.

"What now?" she asked, her voice muffled by her hands.

"We'll find and track the target. And feed Appa. We should eat too, to keep your chi up," Zuko suggested.

They had a small supply of food packed at the back of Appa's saddle. Katara sat next to Zuko, eating her portion grudgingly, before making sure that Appa was well fed and had enough water. From there, they headed into the small town.

It would have been picturesque if they weren't here for such a serious mission. A small town in the valley of two mountains, the rich nature and wildlife was striking against the dull grey sky. Katara and Zuko discreetly navigated around the town to find the address Yon Rha's sister lived at. They had learned that her name was Elua from the file.

Her house was small, and was near the local market. Keeping out of sight, the two watched through her window from afar for hours as she sat in the corner of her home, reading a long scroll. There were no signs of any other family members; if they did exist, it looked like they were away at the moment. She was alone.

Katara made to move towards the house, but Zuko shook his head at her.

"Appa's not ready yet," he whispered. Katara sighed and allowed herself to retreat away from the home.

It was getting dark, and Zuko knew that Katara was probably exhausted, having insisted on not resting for the entirety of their trip so far. He located a tiny inn and began heading towards it, gesturing for Katara to follow him.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him. "We can sleep on Appa!"

"Leave Appa be, he's resting! I have enough money to pay for a room. If you're going to face tomorrow, you'll need a good night's sleep."

Katara rolled her eyes at him, crossing her arms. Zuko waited, his arms crossed too, as she internally debated the options.

"Separate beds," Katara insisted.

"Separate beds," Zuko agreed. "Let me do the talking, your blue eyes might raise some questions."

"Oh and your face won't, your Royal Highness?"

"We're in the middle of nowhere, they won't know who I am here. And people don't like to look too hard at my scar anyway," Zuko argued. Katara frowned at him, forgetting that not everyone was as used to seeing Zuko's scar as she was. After a moment, she relented.

"Fine." Katara followed him into the Inn, waiting by the side while Zuko chatted to the man behind the counter, paid some coins for the room and then returned with a key and a lantern.

"They only have one bed available," Zuko said nervously, brandishing the key in front of her.

"What? This town is hardly a tourist attraction, how on earth are they booked up?" Katara said, her words sharp with incredulity.

"Well in case you didn't notice, it's not exactly a big inn. They only have around three rooms to begin with!" Zuko let out a sigh, one hand pinching the bridge of his nose, "It's fine, I'll sleep on the floor. It's already paid for."

Katara shrugged. If Zuko wanted to sleep on the floor, then that was his choice.

They headed up a flight of stairs to the only other floor in the building, and sure enough there were only three rooms and a communal bathroom. Zuko unlocked the door on the left, holding up the lantern as they walked inside. A narrow double bed sat in the middle of the room, next to a small bedside table. There was a closet in the corner and enough space on the floor by the bed that Zuko would be able to stretch out on the ground.

Zuko placed the lantern on the table, and an awkward silence fell between them. Katara opened the window on the other side of the room in an attempt to feel like there was more space in the room. Quietly, they both removed their layers of black clothing to make sleeping more comfortable. Katara stripped down to her bindings and moved to lie on the bed whilst Zuko settled down on the ground in his usual dark brown trousers, using the rest of his clothes as a pillow.

After a few minutes of lying on the wooden floor in the dark, Zuko accepted that it was not going to be comfortable, and that he might be awake for a while. Although, he figured, it wasn't that far from some of the sleeping conditions he had endured in the Earth Kingdom with Iroh.

Katara admitted to herself that even though she was tired, and even though the bed was comfortable, it was very unlikely that she would actually fall asleep. Zuko had wasted his money and was sleeping on the floor for nothing. She lay there, staring up at the ceiling, unable to stop her brain from thinking about her strange situation.

Circumstances were forcing her and her unintentional husband to remain in the town where her mother's killer had lived, and where his sister still resided. Katara would never be able to face her mother's killer. Now there was no way Kya's death would ever truly be avenged. What was the point in her even being in this lonely town? It wasn't going to bring her mother back, and it wasn't going to punish the bastard that had killed her. The only things left were to do were unleash her anger and hatred on the lone relative of Yon Rha and get answers.

Katara still needed answers.

There had to be some end to the grief, even if there was no justice in this world. The cruelty of the situation caused tears to prick Katara's eyes.

Katara quickly regretted allowing herself to think about it in her cramped room with Zuko. The harder she tried to reign in the deep grief surging through her, the more she began to quietly sob. The worst part was that she could remember how, when she was young and couldn't sleep because she was sad, her mother would crawl under the furs with her and hold her until she drifted off.

Zuko, still awake on the floor, lay there in alarm. He could hear Katara crying and didn't know what to do. Was he supposed to pretend that he was asleep and couldn't hear her? Was he supposed to comfort her? Azula had never really been the crying type, and Mai had never cried in front of him either. He cleared his throat awkwardly in the dark in an attempt to remind Katara that he was in the room and awake.

Katara sniffed loudly, trying desperately to get it together. "Zuko?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Would you… please…?" She couldn't find the right words.

"Do you want me to leave?" He whispered.

"No," Katara replied quickly. There was another beat of silence. "Stay, please." The words were raw with sadness, and a need for comfort. Katara pulled the covers back and sat up, leaning across the narrow bed to where Zuko lay on the floor. Gingerly, she held out her hand to him.

Confused, Zuko took Katara's outstretched hand. He felt her gently pull on his hand, tugging him towards the bed. He let go of her hand to push himself off of the floor and carefully sat down on her bed, moving slowly to give her time to change her mind. He couldn't see her face clearly in the dark, and Zuko didn't know what she wanted from him.

Katara let out another sob from where she sat on the bed and Zuko tentatively placed his hand on her shoulder. At this small gesture, Katara choked out another sob and leaned onto Zuko's shoulder. He sighed, wrapping his arm around Katara's shoulder as she curled into his side.

Katara clung to Zuko as she pressed her face against the front of his shoulder, and Zuko adjusted himself so that he had both arms around Katara in a comforting embrace. They leaned back so they were resting against the headboard of the bed.

Katara wished she could have made it through the trip without needing to be held like this. She was doing fine until they had stopped moving, meaning that there was nothing to distract her from her thoughts and troubles. Now the need to be held outweighed her issues with Zuko. She felt so weak; crying in the privacy of her own tent or in front of a family member was one thing, but to cry in front of Zuko and seek comfort from him was entirely another. Katara felt like a child again, fragile and defenceless against the injustices in the world. Sobs wracked through her chest as tears streamed from of her eyes, her nose running whilst she took great gulps of breath in between each sob. She wished that Sokka or her father were here to support her, but most of all she wished her mother was still alive to hold her.

She was grateful to Zuko for coming with her. So far he hadn't stood in her way; he was just there beside her, helping her find ways to complete the mission. She wasn't oblivious to the kind fact that he was making sure she was staying healthy, too. Secretly, she appreciated his support. It was nice to have someone look after her for once in these moments when she couldn't be as strong as she would like to be.

"Please, stay," Katara sniffed. "At least until I fall asleep."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

* * *

Katara woke to Zuko's arm wrapped around her. She was facing his bare chest, her body curled into his protective embrace. From her spot in the bed, Katara could see the morning light dancing on the wall by the door from where it cracked through the curtains behind her.

Katara tried to dismiss the guilt curling in her stomach at her inaction, realising how late in the morning it was. She had come to this town for a real reason, not to lie in bed all day with Zuko.

Katara pushed away the memory of the last time she had woken up in the same bed as Zuko, which crept into her mind. Gently, she pulled herself out of Zuko's grasp and climbed out of the bed. At the sound of her movements, Zuko opened his eyes, blinking sleepily a few times before becoming aware of his surroundings. Zuko lay still, watching her warily.

"It's time to go," Katara told him. He nodded and pushed himself up from the pillows.

Neither of them mentioned the previous night, how Katara had cried as Zuko gently rubbed circles across her back and shoulders to soothe her. When she ran out of tears, Katara had continued to shake until she had eventually drifted off to sleep. Zuko had adjusted Katara so she was lying down properly on the bed, but when he had tried to pull away, Katara had clung to him in her sleep. Zuko had been afraid of waking her up, so tiredly decided to stay next to her.

Katara told herself that last night wasn't important in the grand scheme of things; they had more important things to do than linger on thoughts of the night before. They made their way into town again, waiting in the same spot from the previous day to assess Elau. She was alone again. Katara tried to ignore Zuko's nervous glances at her as she stood up, and began to make her way to Elau's home. Zuko quickly stood up after a second of hesitation, then followed Katara.

The sky was an ominous grey blanket of cloud, they walked through the town in the light rain.

The duo approached the front door, ready to draw Elau out rather than allow a messy scramble inside her tiny bungalow.

Zuko was afraid that Katara was going to kill Elau. He could accept killing Yon Rha for revenge, but killing an innocent person just because they were related to a villain began to blur the lines in his mind about justified revenge. He had always struggled between what was wrong and what was right, but he had thought that Katara had a clearer definition. Now he wasn't so sure.

He was torn between stopping Katara to save her from making a decision that she might later regret, or allowing her to work through this in her own way.

He lost his chance. Katara knocked on the door.

After half a moment, Elau slowly opened the door, and stared at the pair dressed in black warily.

"We're here about Yon Rha." Zuko stated bluntly, moving to stand in front of Katara slightly.

"That dumb bastard's been dead for years and he still finds ways to get me in trouble," Elua grumbled. "They warned me you might be coming. Oh well, this sure isn't the first time I've taken the fall for that coward. What did he do?"

"He killed my mother." Katara stepped forward, pulling her mask down. She stared hard at Elau. "You have the same eyes as him."

A look of panic flashed across Elau's face. She might have taken the fall for Yon Rha before, but not for something as serious as murder. Before Elau could make an attempt to run, Katara used bloodbending to hold her still.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry he did that. But that wasn't me, I had nothing to do with that, _please_!" Elau gasped against the pain.

"You're going to take us to him."

Behind Katara, Zuko blinked in surprise before quickly controlling his reaction. It was not the direction he was expecting Katara this situation. Elau also looked bewildered.

"I just told you, he's been dead for years. Three years!" She repeated, confused.

"We know. But where is he now?" Katara insisted.

Elau swallowed nervously. "The cemetery. I don't go very often."

"Take us to him," Katara ordered. Katara released Elau and she sagged against her door frame, panting for breath. "If you try to run, I'll squeeze harder next time," Katara warned.

"What are you? Some kind of witch?" Elau asked.

"I'm a waterbender," Katara snapped back. Elau gave her an odd look. "Let's get walking."

"You should know that I don't know a lot about Yon Rha's work. He kept to himself, and kept his secrets to himself too," Elau admitted as she walked them slowly to the cemetery. Rain began to drip softly from the clouds, but none of the group seemed to care as they continued on the road towards the cemetary.

"You must know something about it, though. He was your brother," Katara insisted.

Elau shrugged. Katara wanted to shake her; now was not the time to protect her brother's secrets.

Zuko saw Katara's growing anger, and stepped in front of Elau, halting their walk.

"Look at this girl." He gestured to Katara, and Elau looked at Katara's unmasked face. "Look at her and what your brother did to her mother, and tell us what you know. You owe her that much," Zuko growled.

Katara glared at Elau, moving her her hands if to strike Elau with another bloodbending hold. Elau flinched.

"I knew he was in the navy, but for all those years that he was away at sea, I never knew he was Special Forces until he retired four years ago," Elau babbled anxiously. "I didn't know he was tasked with getting rid of the waterbenders. I was… I was horrified when he told me!"

"Seven years ago, your brother raided my village, killed my mother, and left. She wasn't a bender; she was harmless," Katara spat out.

"I'm sorry." Elau looked ashamed at the actions of her brother. Katara appeared to ignore her, instead continuing to move towards the now-visible cemetery.

"If he liked his secrets, then why did he tell you anything?" Katara asked after a brief period of silence.

They were approaching the cemetery gates now, two stone pillars formed an archway over a rotten black gate. The gate creaked open with ease as Katara marched Elau forward.

"He'd never had any friends," Elau said. "It was just us and our parents, before they passed away. His job was all he'd ever had; and then he retired. He spent his last year getting miserably drunk all the time. And one day, when he'd emptied three bottles of fire whiskey, he told me about his time in the Special Forces, and their task to kill the southern waterbenders," Elau admitted.

"But you're a bender from the Northern Water Tribe, right?" she asked. "I don't know what Yon Rha was doing, messing with the Northern Water Tribe. He was always based in the south."

"I'm from the Southern Water Tribe," Katara snapped. "Why would you assume I'm Northern tribe?"

"Because he told me that he received information that there was only one waterbender left in the Southern water tribe. He killed her. Unless he was lying…" She gestured at Katara and her water pouch.

Katara grabbed Elau by her shoulder and pushed her against the stony side of a tall tombstone. The older woman winced at the impact.

"Did he brag about it? Killing that last waterbender?" Katara hissed.

"No!" Elau cried back. "No! He never mentioned it again. I swear! Please, don't hurt me!" She began to weep.

"When did he do it?" Katara pushed. "Seven years ago?"

"I'm not sure! During their last raid on the southern tribe." Elau admitted, terrified.

Seven years ago, Katara's mother died in the last raid on her village.

" _Let her go and I'll give you the information you want!" Kya had hissed at the guard when Katara had rushed in, terrified._

Katara remembered the look of pure panic on Kya's face when Katara was close to the guard. It finally clicked; Katara realised that the information the guard had wanted to know was who in the village was the last waterbender.

Katara let go of Elau in shock. Elau slid to the ground, shaking and crying. Katara was hit with the knowledge that her mother had died pretending to be the last waterbender. Her mother had died protecting Katara, had sacrificed herself for her family.

Katara stared hard at Elau. Elau, who was from the Fire Nation. A woman whose brother had actively eliminated the benders of Katara's tribe and had still been accepted and loved when she had learned of his actions.

Elau was not the cause of Katara's pain, but Katara thought about letting her fury out on her. A life for a life, even if Katara couldn't get to Yon Rha directly.

But Katara looked at the elderly woman crying on the ground, and knew that her mother would not want Elau to die for this. Katara was not like Yon Rha; she was not a murderer.

"Where is he?" Katara asked.

Katara held out her hand to the woman, and Elau flinched in response. Cautiously, she accepted Katara's help and stood up shakily, before pointing to a tombstone a few rows ahead of them.

"How did he die? I need to know," Katara said to Elau.

"It was the alcohol. After he retired, he just… drank," Elau sighed. "All the time. He was lonely and sad and bored. And he drank the rest of his life away. I couldn't stop him."

Katara nodded slowly, and began to move to where her mother's killer lay in the ground.

Zuko helped Elau walk over to Yon Rha's grave, holding her gently but firmly so she wouldn't interrupt or run away. They waited a few steps behind Katara, watching her.

Katara stood face to face with Yon Rha's gravestone silently for a few minutes as she touched the blue pendant at her neck. She kept her eyes closed and her head bowed as she contemplated her situation. This was it. This was as close as she would ever get to her mother's murderer. This was her chance to unleash her hatred and pain as she wanted to do.

She opened her eyes and looked back at the grave.

"You were wrong. You _didn't_ kill the last southern waterbender," Katara said to the grave.

She spread her arms out wide, her feet planted together firmly on the ground, and suddenly she opened her palms. Zuko and Elau watched in wonder as the rain around them stopped mid-air.

"She died _protecting_ the last southern waterbender," Katara declared, bending the rain droplets into a dome large enough to enclose her, Zuko, Elau, and several rows of headstones. The ongoing rain bounced pathetically against her protective dome as it grew in size. Soon it covered the entire cemetery.

"She was protecting _me_!" Katara shouted. She let out a fierce cry as she circled her arms in front of herself, using her bending to collapse the dome into an array of icy daggers, all flying towards Yon Rha's headstone. Elau ducked, flinching.

Katara held the army of ice daggers hanging frozen in the air, barely trembling due to Katara's tight grip on them.

As quickly as Katara had formed the ice, she let it melt away, drenching the grave instead of than destroying it.

"I'll never be able to make you pay for what you did to her," Katara said quietly. "I always wondered what kind of person could do such a thing. But you were a pathetic coward, and died sad and alone; as much as I hate you, I know now that you're not worth my time."

Katara took a step back from the grave and turned towards Elau.

"I considered it. I considered killing an innocent loved one of his to make up for the loss of an innocent loved one of mine," Katara admitted.

Elau stood shaking in fear. She had no way to run, and no way to fight. "I'm sorry for the pain he caused you and your family," she whispered to Katara, her voice trembling.

"Your death won't make my mother's death any easier. You don't deserve to die for his mistakes," Katara admitted before turning away, heading towards the exit of the cemetery.

Zuko watched Elau closely for a few seconds, checking that she wouldn't change her mind and try to attack Katara from behind; but she was too stunned and shaken up from the encounter to do anything other than stare. Zuko followed Katara out of the cemetery, and together they left the town. Katara didn't look back.

Appa looked rested when they returned to his hiding spot. Katara climbed into the saddle and Zuko silently took the reins, charting their course back to the gang as Appa rose slowly into the air at Zuko's command.

"Are you okay?" Zuko asked Katara once they were far away from the town.

She looked over at him and nodded.

They flew the rest of the journey in silence. It was a comfortable silence though, as Zuko understood that Katara needed to be alone with her thoughts.

Zuko landed Appa on Ember Island, at the empty pier by his family's old empty summer home. He had mentioned to Sokka that he thought it was the safest next place for them to hide until the Comet arrived, and that he would pick them up once they had finished their journey.

Katara slid off Appa, moving to sit at the end of the pier. She dipped her feet in the water, leaving Zuko to go back to the gang's location alone. Zuko guessed that Katara still wanted some time to herself; after all, alone time was a rare thing in such a small group, and it was important that she had some given what she was going through.

Zuko retrieved the others, and together they all headed towards Ember Island. He explained to Aang and the others what had happened during his and Katara's trip so that she wouldn't have to.

When they landed, Aang jumped off of Appa, running towards the pier. Zuko followed at a slower pace, stopping at the start of the pier.

"Katara!" Aang called as he ran towards Katara, who had been staring off at the sunset. "Are you okay?"

"I'm doing fine," Katara told Aang, still looking at the water.

"Zuko told us what you did," Aang continued. "Or what you didn't do, I guess. I'm proud of you."

Katara let out a small sigh of relief. Aang's opinion meant a lot to her, even if they didn't always see eye to eye.

"I wanted to do it," Katara confessed, her shoulders sagging forwards. "But I couldn't. I don't know if it's because I'm too weak to do it, or if it's because I'm strong enough not to."

"You did the right thing," Aang reassured her. "Forgiveness is the first step towards healing."

Katara stood up, turning to look at Aang.

"But I didn't forgive him," Katara admitted. "I'll never forgive him."

Katara looked over at Zuko, who had been standing a few feet away from them. "But I am ready to forgive _you_ ," she told him.

Katara walked towards Zuko and reached her arms up around his shoulders. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. Katara had meant to give him a light, friendly hug, but once she was in his arms she clung to Zuko harder, burying her face into his shoulder. Zuko tightened his arms in response. After everything that had happened, Katara needed this hug, this support from Zuko, for a little while longer

"Thank you," Katara whispered.

She squeezed Zuko once more before releasing him and walking towards Sokka.

Sokka gave her an understanding look as she approached him, and put his arm around her shoulder comfortingly. The two of them moved towards the beach, leaving the gang and the house behind them as they looked for a spot of privacy.

"I'm sorry about what I said to you. About mom," Katara told Sokka. They sat on the beach near the house, overlooking the waves. Sokka took her hand.

"Katara you don't need to apologize, you were just upset. I get it."

Katara shook her head.

"No. It was hurtful of me and it's not true. I know you loved her."

Sokka squeezed Katara's hand gently as he stared at the sand by his feet, He swallowed thickly and nodded.

"And I'm sorry that I didn't bring you. I guess I was just bitter that you didn't bring me to rescue dad, and then when you disagreed with me I thought the mission would be easier without you. But it was wrong of me. I sometimes forget that I don't have a monopoly on all the pain in the world, or even a monopoly on all the pain on losing Mom," Katara explained.

"I'm sorry you went through it alone," Sokka told her quietly. Katara squeezed his fingers back, and gave him a small smile.

"I wasn't alone."

Sokka asked Katara questions about what it was like to try and face Kya's killer, and they exchanged feelings at the bittersweet knowledge that the man was already dead. It was hard to talk about it; their mother's death wasn't something they often discussed, but Katara knew it was important for them to talk about what had happened. Kya was just as much Sokka's mother as she was Katara's.

They sat in the sand and talked about their mother, what they remembered and missed about her.

Suki briefly approached them with bowls of food in her hands for dinner before leaving them alone once more. Sokka and Katara ate outside as the sky grew darker. Katara was ravenous; finally, her appetite had come back.

Eventually, the weather began to turn cold. Sokka and Katara headed inside, ready to re-join the group. Katara hugged her brother before stepping away.

"Are you going to bed?" Sokka asked as she headed towards the bedrooms.

Katara shook her head. "Not yet. There's something I still need to do."

Sokka nodded at Katara and made his way over to Aang, Toph, and Suki, who were playing a game of Pai Sho in the living room.

Katara timidly knocked on the wooden door as she stood in of Zuko's doorway. She internally reprimanded herself for being so shy, and held her chin up high as Zuko looked over, putting down the scroll he'd been reading at the sound and standing up to face the door.

He looked bewildered to see Katara at his door. Flashbacks of his first evening at the Air Temple with the gang and Katara's not so subtle threats briefly crossed his mind. For a second he thought that Katara had changed her mind again, and Zuko wondered if she was here to re-declare her hate for him. Zuko also lifted his chin up and crossed his arms across his chest; he wasn't going to let her do it. They were finally making progress! He wasn't going to let that slip through his fingers.

Katara noticed Zuko's defensive posture, and nerves crept back into her stomach, her brief moment of confidence disappearing.

"I, uh…" she stammered. "Can we talk?"

Zuko's eyes widened in surprise at her cautious approach, unused to it. He uncrossed his arms and nodded quietly, gesturing for her to enter the room. He sat back down at the side of his bed as Katara stepped towards him

"What about?" He asked curiously.

Katara sat down next to him on the bed. She stared at her knees, took a breath, and then looked back over at him.

"About our marriage." Katara said. Zuko swallowed nervously and nodded again.

"I'm ready to accept it, the fact that we are… married," Katara began. "I'm sorry I wouldn't before; it was just such a mistake, and I sort of hoped that if I didn't agree to it then it wouldn't count." Katara was rambling, but she couldn't stop herself. Zuko listened in stunned silence.

"I'm not saying, I want a relationship!" she continued. "Not a romantic relationship, at least. I'm ready for us to be friends. And I still want a divorce if the Fire Court will allow it, or if they don't accept me or whatever. Ugh, what I'm trying to say is… I'm not going to fight you about it anymore. We can work as a team, and concentrate our efforts on finishing this damn war."

Zuko was in shock. He was tempted to pinch himself to check that this moment was actually happening. They'd been arguing about the marriage for nearly a month; the moment felt too surreal.

Zuko's silence made Katara more nervous with each beat. "Okay?" She checked.

Zuko nodded, and Katara raised an eyebrow at him, prompting actual speech.

"Okay. Yeah," Zuko managed to get out. "Thank you."

"Okay," Katara repeated. It was a small step towards improving things between them. Standing up off the bed, she dusted off her clothes out of nervous habit and headed out of the room. She stopped at the doorway, looking back at Zuko, who was still staring at her. She gave him a shy smile, before walking away down the hall.

Zuko sat still for another few moments before falling on his back against his bed. Staring up at the ceiling of his old room, Zuko couldn't stop the grin slowly spreading across his face.


	13. Chapter 13

The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

So I know it's been a long time since I last updated. I'm a little out of practice with writing and with my own story so this chapter could very well reflect all of that. But I figured since I found the enthusiasm to write again, I might as well share it rather than waiting until I felt like it was absolutely perfect.

So I hope you enjoy it; flaws and all.

* * *

"Zuko…"

Zuko's shoulders tensed at the warning tone in Katara's voice. He was prepared to fight her on this issue though; it had been bugging him for weeks. Determined, he pulled his arms out of the soapy water and crossed them as he turned to face her.

They had had this argument before. Weeks ago when he had tried to help her with the dishes and she had accused him of trying to 'sneak' their marriage onto her.

Katara frowned at him from the kitchen doorway of the holiday home on Ember Island; crossing her arms in response to Zuko's defensive position.

"You have already prepared and cooked for all the meals today, and every single other day. As your _friend_ , it's not nice to see you doing all the work. Let me do this," Zuko argued, trying to remind her that yesterday she said she would be nicer to him.

"But I don't _mind_ doing it. And you're doing your bit to help already; you're training Aang!" Katara countered, stepping forwards.

"It's not the same thing and you know it, you help Aang with his waterbending practice too! I want to help; you're not being fair."

Katara paused for a moment. "You really want to help do the dishes? There isn't anything else to this?" She checked.

Zuko scowled; what did she think he was going to answer? _Yes Katara, doing the dishes is part of my master plan to trick you into being my wife. Oh wait, you already are technically my wife and you already agreed that you wouldn't deny the existence of that fact anymore. So really this is part of my other master plan to… trick you into forgetting how to do the dishes._

"I just want to help," Zuko answered instead; having learnt that a sarcastic retort wouldn't help him convince Katara of anything. "It sounds odd but I know Uncle would be disappointed to see me letting you do all the cooking and cleaning. He taught me better than that."

"But…" Katara began, trying to think of a way to argue. Finally, she opted for just telling him the truth, "I just like to keep busy; it's my way of coping with all of this."

Zuko sighed. "That doesn't mean you have to do it all by yourself. We can both do it."

Katara gave him a hard stare while she mulled the idea over. "Fine. I'll rinse and you can dry."

Zuko picked up a nearby cloth from the marble countertop and towelled off his dripping forearms. He figured that even though he hadn't convinced Katara to take on less of the chores, at least she hadn't screamed at him for trying to help. It was progress.

Katara looked into the bowl of dishes and then back at Zuko. "I didn't think royalty did the dishes." She remarked with a question in her tone.

"Me and Uncle were busboys at a tea shop in the lower ring of Ba Sing Se," Zuko shrugged as they stood side by side.

Katara nodded but didn't respond, instead she just began cleaning at the bowl in front of her using her bending.

Zuko assumed it was because she was uncomfortable with the reminder of Ba Sing Se and his betrayal. In truth, Katara had been struck by the realisation that although she was married to Zuko, she knew very little about him.

"I miss it sometimes," Zuko admitted quietly. "Working in Uncle's tea shop."

Katara looked over at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah. Before Azula… summoned us, I had really started to enjoy my life there. It was peaceful," He explained wistfully.

"I have to admit, I hated living in Ba Sing Se!" Katara scrunched up her nose. "There were so many rules."

They grinned at each other and at the odd sensation of making pleasant small-talk while they worked. Katara was almost disappointed when she handed Zuko the last dish to dry.

"I slept in this morning," She told him and he nodded, listening as he ran the cloth over the bowl. He looked up at her when she didn't carry on with her story. "Normally, well, I guess I'm used to waking up at the sound of you and Aang getting up," She explained.

"Ah," Zuko realised. "The rooms are much more spread apart here then the sleeping quarters of the Western Air Temple. It's harder to hear other people."

Katara nodded. "Well, I was starting to like getting up early… would you mind waking me up too next time?" She asked.

"Of course." He placed the bowl on top of his stack of dishes and moved to place them away in the cupboard while Katara deposited the clean chopsticks and utensils back into the cutlery drawer.

"Thanks, Zuko." She smiled as they made their way to rejoin the group in the grand living room. Aang and Suki were playing a game of Pai Sho, while Toph sat next to the board laughing as she listened to Aang slowly losing the game, _again._ They were sitting on the floor, with Suki's back leaning against the sofa that Sokka was lounging on as he read a scroll from the library.

The next day, Katara temporarily regretted her request when Zuko knocked timidly against her door which was half open. She liked being up early, but the actual waking up part was horrible.

Katara struggled to open her eyes and squinted at Zuko from across the room.

"Uh… Morning," He awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Okay," Katara grumbled, remembering that she had literally requested this. By the time Katara managed to pull herself out of her bed, she could faintly hear the sound of Zuko and Aang making their way down the stairs.

While the boys practiced their mediation and training in the courtyard of the villa, Katara headed down to the beach. She had learned how to fashion herself a surfboard out of ice using her waterbending and began hitting the waves. For someone who was a self-taught surfer she was rather proud with her progress.

But Katara was more surprised after breakfast when Zuko insisted on helping her dry the dishes again. She had assumed it would be a dinner-only thing for some reason.

"This is getting excessive," She told him when she found him in the kitchen after lunch with the dishes.

Zuko smirked at her. "Yeah, your chore-load is excessive."

Katara rolled her eyes and flicked some of the dirty dish water at him.

And by some miracle, that became their routine. He would wake her in the morning and insist on helping her clean up after every meal. Katara found herself taking longer and longer to wash the dishes after each meal, enjoying the conversation too much to focus on the task.

On their fourth night on Ember Island, Katara noticed Zuko rather hurriedly clearing the plates and cutlery from the table. She watched him warily as he piled up the dishes into his arms. With a mischievous glance over at Katara; he dashed away to the kitchen.

Suspiciously, Katara followed him, which made Zuko walk faster. Katara started to chase after him.

"Hey! Zuko! What are you up to?" She rushed into the kitchen after him and found him standing by the sink. He flashed her a grin as he tossed the drying cloth at her across the space. It hit her in the face lightly as her arms flailed and failed to catch it.

"I'm afraid you have been demoted."

"No way! That is not how it works!" Katara complained playfully, smiling as she gripped the cloth between her hands.

"You snooze you lose, you can dry this time," Zuko teased her. Grumbling to herself, she joined him at the counter.

There was a moment of comfortable silence before Katara spoke up. "I still find it weird that we're hiding from the Fire Lord in his own house."

"I told you, my father hasn't come here since he was actually happy. And that was a long time ago."

Katara still couldn't fathom growing up in a family like Zuko's.

She wondered at how Zuko felt living with their group now. A group of people so different to that of Azula and her clique. The gang were a group of caring friends, somehow finding a way to laugh together as they held what felt like the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Though, the group hadn't exactly always been caring and friendly to Zuko while he'd been travelling with them.

Or more specifically, Katara hadn't been friendly to Zuko while he'd been travelling with them. Not until this week at least.

"I'm sorry for the way I treated you when you first joined the group and for a long time after that too. You've made real changes and I'm sorry it took me so long to trust you when everyone else could see it," Katara told him.

Zuko's hands stilled in the water as he looked over at Katara. He was surprised by her change in topic and surprised further by her unnecessary apology.

"Katara, you don't need to apologize. I understand."

"No, Zuko. I was awful to you because I couldn't let go of my prejudices," Katara shook her head at him as she hugged the tea pot that she had been drying to her chest.

Zuko frowned at her. Why, even when she was being nice to him, did they always have to argue?

Zuko let out a sigh and returned to scrubbing at the pot in front of him while he spoke. "Listen to me. You had good reason to hold on to them, Katara. You trusted me once and I let you and Aang down. I mean, did I spend those weeks severely wishing that you would get over it? _Yes_. But I also knew it was important for you to let your anger and disappointment out, and that you had to work through your feelings on your own terms rather than bottling them all up. I know you're a good person, Katara. But you don't belong on a pedestal. We _all_ need to let out our rage and frustration sometimes and we don't always want to be nice to people we consider our enemies. You're only human."

Katara felt relief at his words, but she still couldn't shake the guilt that had begun to plague her recently. Gran Gran had always taught her that it was important to own up to your mistakes. With the comet only days away it felt more important than ever to make sure she had made her peace with her mistakes.

"You don't have to say that because we're…. friends now. I was a bitch to you," She admitted as she placed the teapot down before hopping up onto a clear space onto the marble countertop. Her legs dangled over the counter and her hands gripped at the edge of the marble as she frowned at him.

Zuko scrubbed harder at the pot, even though it was clean now.

"When I returned home after Ba Sing Se, I was so irritated and mad with my family and my friends. Even though going back to my old life was something that I had craved for years, once I got there… I was miserable.

And I knew that my father and sister were not good people, but Azula was, in her own twisted way, sort of looking out for me. They were treating me like family but I was still furious and unhappy. It took me a long amount of time to acknowledge how angry I felt and even longer to realise why. I was angry at myself for the choices I had made; for making the wrong choices.

I'm not telling you this because I want you to feel sympathy for me at a time when I didn't deserve any. I'm saying it because I've been in that position before, where you bottle all of your emotions and I know how painful it is.

As frustrating as it was that you were not nice to me. I knew where I stood with you, I knew that you were mad at me and I knew that that wasn't a game or a trick. That was how you genuinely felt. You're never afraid to show your actual emotions, you don't suppress them or hide them and I guess you don't know how rare that is for me to see in a person. I'm not used to it. So even if I hated that you hated me, I could respect that those were your feelings."

Katara nodded, letting his words sink in for a few moments. She wasn't sure how to respond. Slowly, she pushed herself off of the counter and stood at his side, gently placing her hand on his upper arm. Zuko turned to face her gradually, offering her a small smile.

Katara took this as a sign that it was okay to hug him and she wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head into his chest as Zuko brought his arms up around her in return.

"I'm glad we're friends now," She told him.

* * *

"Aghh!" Aang roared as he finished off a firebending technique. Zuko stood, watching his form with his arms crossed and one hand cupped to his chin. Zuko nodded, grudgingly.

"Better but it still needs to be more ferocious! Run through it again," Zuko told him.

Aang let out a sigh of exhaustion, but reset his stance to begin the form again.

They were training in the courtyard of the Fire Nation's holiday home again. The island was adorned by several hills and mountains made of a dark granite stone that slanted out of the ground. The royal home was fitted at the bottom of a small mountain, providing excellent cover away from prying eyes. The forth side of the courtyard was backed by the granite hill which meant that it was the perfect spot for the boys to practice their training.

They had been on Ember Island for five days now and Zuko still couldn't shake how surreal it was to be staying in his old family home with the Avatar's gang while they waited to face the potential end of the world and hopefully end of the 100 year war.

It had felt a little weird over the past few days. But this afternoon, he was particularly distracted. His conversation with Katara from the previous night kept popping back into his head.

It all felt surreal because the people Zuko was with now, and the person Zuko was himself, were so vastly different to when he was a young boy spending his summers in this extravagant villa. It was even weirder because Zuko felt incredibly different to how he'd been when he last visited the island so recently with Azula, Ty Lee and Mai. Back when he was pretending to himself that his family's side was the right side to be on and that being the perfect prince was his destiny.

His conversation with Katara about his time after Ba Sing Se meant that today he couldn't help but think back to an evening on Ember Island that he had spent with his sister and her friends after a terrible house party. Where they had sat around the fire and Zuko had tried to confront his irrational deep-seated anger. Zuko could still hear the creepy voices of Lo and Li re-introducing the island to them: "Like footsteps being washed away from the sand. Ember Island gives everyone a clean slate. Ember Island reveals the true you."

Zuko knew that he could never truly have a clean slate for the things that he had done in his life, but he hoped that the person he was now was the true him. For the first time in a long time, what he was doing felt right at least. But that didn't make the experience of staying in the villa and grappling with painful memories of his childhood and family any less weird.

Aang began to work through his firebending set again and Zuko was brought out of his reverie by the movement, trying to refocus on the young Avatar.

Katara and Toph were sitting on the steps to the left of the courtyard, lazing in the shade of the veranda. They had both spent the morning practising their own bending. Katara had gone ice surfing when she first woke up and moved onto practising her waterbending forms by the sea whilst Toph perfected her sandbending. They were both now avoiding the hot sun when Sokka burst into the courtyard excitedly with his arms full of groceries and Suki trailing behind him with an amused expression on her face and a piece of parchment in her hands.

"You guys are not going to believe this," Sokka announced, interrupting the practice. "There's a play about us."

"We were just in town and we found this poster," Suki explained as Sokka gestured to her to brandish the poster at the group.

"What? How is that possible?" Katara asked in confusion as she and Aang moved towards the poster for a better look. Zuko used the break from training to sit down on the stone edge of a fountain that had not been used in many years and wiped away his sweat with a cloth.

"Listen to this!" Suki turned the poster towards Sokka for him to read it aloud. "A Boy in the Iceberg is a new playwright brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players –."

"Ugh!" Zuko interrupted. "My mother used to take us to see them. They butchered 'Dragons in Love' every year."

"Should we go see it?" Aang asked.

"I mean, is it really a good idea for us to go see a play about ourselves?" Katara worried.

"If you want to ruin your evening watching a most likely inaccurately written story about us, which will be wrecked further by terrible actors that will leave you feeling miserable, then you should go watch it." Zuko griped.

"No thanks," Toph grimaced. "I have sat through enough boring, stuck-up theatre performances for an entire lifetime."

Aang kicked at the dirt with his feet. "We never get to have fun anymore," He grumbled quietly, Katara standing next to him put her hand on his shoulder.

"We can do something else fun," She suggested.

"Okay!" Aang beamed up at her. Aang glanced back over at Zuko sitting at the fountain. "Can we do something fun now? Can we take a break Sifu Hotman, please?" Aang pleaded.

They really didn't have time to be taking 'fun' breaks in the middle of their training sessions but Zuko felt bad for shooting down the play so forcefully.

"Sure," He conceded.

Aang jumped in the air with excitement. "Okay! What should we do? A fun game… oh! I know! The monks and I used to play this game called 'Hide and Seek' where while one person counts to a hundred with their eyes closed –."

"We know what Hide and Seek is, Twinkle Toes," Toph remarked with a sly grin. "I'm in."

"There is no way that that is fair!" Sokka complained as he handed Suki the bag of groceries so that he could freely point at Toph. "Toph will just be able to sense everyone in a matter of seconds!"

"Come on Sokka, the challenge will just make it more fun," Aang tried to persuade his friend.

"I do like a good challenge," Sokka's chest puffed out a little as he scratched his chin fondly. Suki rolled her eyes as she headed in the direction of the kitchen.

"Alright, is everyone in?" Aang asked once Suki had returned. Everyone nodded.

"I'll count first," Toph volunteered. "Get hiding. 1…, 2…, 3…, 4..." Toph began to count and everyone immediately sprinted away.

Katara spotted Sokka and Suki making their way down to the beach, probably hoping to use the sand as a cover from Toph's all seeing-feet. Aang was already trying to scale a tree. Katara had an idea and headed up the stairs to her bedroom.

She swung open the wooden closet in her room, hoping to seek refuge inside. But the wardrobe was already filled to the brim with boxes, Katara tried to move one of the boxes, but decided that they were too heavy for her to shift them in time. She rushed back into the hallway and into the next room.

She twisted the handle on the wardrobe in Zuko's room but was disappointed to find Zuko himself already sitting inside.

"Sorry, this spot is taken." Zuko teased as he tried to shut the wardrobe door from Katara. "Find your own spot."

"Nuh uh," Katara pulled the door back open, she could see there was a little space left in the closet next to the firebender. "I'm running out of time, let me in or we'll both just get caught."

"Fine," Zuko pouted but budged over. Katara climbed inside and tried to sit down whilst she shut the door. With the door firmly shut, she suddenly felt very squashed. The closet was a lot smaller than she had realised.

Katara felt her cheeks turning red as she tried to shift into a comfortable sitting position but kept elbowing Zuko as they were squished together.

"Stop moving," Zuko complained. "Toph's going to hear you."

"She doesn't have super hearing, Zuko," Katara giggled as her eyes gradually adjusted to the dark. Zuko could feel the vibrations of her laughter in the small space.

As her laughter quietened, Katara became very aware of how silent it was in their dark and cramped space. Perhaps it was the adrenaline of the game, but she could feel her heart beating quicker. She worried that Zuko would be able to hear it as each heartbeat felt unnecessarily pronounced.

She wished she could breathe quieter too; she was breathing so loudly in this small space. Maybe because it was so small and quiet that just made her breathing sound louder.

Zuko's hand brushed against her fingers and she felt a little jolt of excitement race through and up her arm.

Katara blushed harder as she turned to try and look at him in the dark. She couldn't really see his face but she could vaguely tell that their faces were not far apart.

For a moment, she forgot everything going on outside of their wardrobe; she pushed the war and the worries out her mind and was distracted by the sound of her breathing and the feel of his hand next to hers.

Rather than shying her hand away, Katara's fingers gently crept towards the palm of Zuko's hand. She felt a little lightheaded, this was all so unfamiliar to her but she felt encouraged by her own rush of giddiness. Their shoulders were already touching but Katara felt herself leaning into him slightly.

She could hear Zuko's breathing now. She could hear how close he sounded and in the dark she could see the shape of his face hovering just by hers. His face became closer and Katara was unsure of which one of them had leaned in further; perhaps they both had.

Their foreheads pressed against one another's and Katara felt as their noses lightly collided. She savoured the moment as they shared the same breath. Her eyes had closed in the dark, and she reopened them to look at Zuko. She realised he was waiting for her to make the last move, to signal that it would be okay to kiss her. Katara began to tilt her mouth closer, to finally close the gap between them.

Toph flung open the closet doors. "Aha! I found you!" She cried as Zuko and Katara sprung apart, they both sat there slightly dazed in the sudden light.

"Hello? I can hear your breathing. I caught you."


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: The Avatar world and characters belong to Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Thank you guys so so so much for your reviews! I was pretty nervous about posting that last chapter but your words were all so encouraging and kind! So thanks, it was really motivating :D

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Katara felt so silly; she had crush on her husband. She still cringed at that word: _husband_. It felt so unnatural.

Katara used to look at Zuko and she would feel irritation spike in her veins, she used to find that the sound of his voice would make her roll her eyes and her teeth would involuntarily grit together. But that frustration and dislike had dissipated over time.

Now she felt completely different about Zuko.

Now Zuko was someone she could turn to for support. Even though she was worried about her friends, about her family, about everyone's future and about the future of the world; now she had Zuko as support. When she felt like she was the one who looked after the group; she had begun to feel like Zuko was the one who looked after her. He had somehow still found ways to make her smile and laugh over the past week. He had supported her through hunting her mother's killer and he even supported her with the little things like the dishes. He was physical comfort too; there was something soothing about being able to press her face into his shoulder with his arms around her.

She had begun to miss him, even if he wasn't far away. That was how she knew she was in trouble. When the boys trained in the courtyard and Katara did her own training by the beach or completed tasks around the villa; she found herself missing his company, wishing that he was next to her so that they could talk some more. How was it possible to miss someone when they were just on the other side of the house?

And how was it possible to miss someone so much that it physically hurt? Katara had known longing for a long part of her life; she knew the pain she felt when she missed her mother and the longing she felt when she wished for a life filled with family instead of war. But this was different; this wasn't a sad pain. When she missed Zuko it felt like an ache in her chest, like she couldn't catch her breath or that her stomach wouldn't settle. It was an ache that filled her lungs with a feeling of desperation. She was afraid of the physical impact of her feelings; it felt like they could consume and overwhelm her to a point where she wouldn't be able to catch her breath and instead she would drown inside herself.

She'd agreed to be friends with Zuko but now she wasn't so sure that she would be able to manage that. Katara had been doing her best to ignore her growing feelings for Zuko, in fact, she'd been pretty good at supressing that desperate ache in her ribs and pushing it to the back of her mind. But her actions in the cupboard had spoken for themselves. Katara could no longer deny to herself that she was attracted to Zuko.

Katara had a crush. And that was a very bad thing. It was dangerous actually.

Because this crush was exactly the kind of emotional distraction that she did not need right now.

 _Was a crush always meant to feel this strong?_ Katara asked herself. But even she knew the answer: no. She had had the odd crush before, she'd liked Jet until she'd learned the truth about him, and the impact of that crush had been nowhere near as terrifying as this one.

She didn't want to hurt Zuko's feelings; but for the sake of her focus, she was going to have to try and avoid him. She was going to have to deny herself his company and his conversation in an attempt to reign her feelings in.

"Katara?"

Katara was snapped out of her reverie at the sound of her brother's voice.

"Hmmm?" She asked, startled.

"I said: could you pass me the water jug, please?" Sokka repeated.

"Oh, sorry!" Katara passed the water over to him.

"Are you ok?" Sokka mouthed to her across the table when the group's conversation resumed to its normal chatter around the table. Katara nodded at him, but she noticed Toph sitting between the siblings with a smirk on her face.

"You seem distracted, Sugar Queen," Toph commented to her quietly. Her voice had an innocent enough tone to it, but Katara knew she was teasing her. Toph may have been blind but Katara knew that Toph had a pretty good idea about what had been going on during that game of hide and seek. Toph probably could have guessed it all from just hearing Katara's heartbeat when they got caught.

"I am… the war… the comet. It's more than a little distracting," Katara replied. It wasn't a lie, technically. Katara had been worrying about the future, even if her current thoughts were more Zuko-themed.

Sokka nodded in understanding, whilst Toph yawned at Katara's response. Katara scarfed down her untouched food before standing to collect everyone's empty dishes. Zuko had begun to stand up, presumably to join Katara, when Sokka started talking to Zuko about one of the scrolls he'd been reading about the Fire Nation effectively. Katara was relieved as she carried the dishes to the kitchen alone; she had no clue how to even meet Zuko's eye, there was no way she could talk to him alone right now.

Except, to Katara's surpise, Zuko stepped into the kitchen a few minutes later, quietly picking up the dishcloth. Sokka's question obviously hadn't taken very long.

"The others went down to the beach to watch the sunset." He explained. Zuko looked over at Katara; but she stared at the candles in front of her on the window sill, watching as their light casted flickering shadows into the dimming room.

Katara wanted to tell Zuko that he should go join the others in watching the sunset but she was afraid to allow any conversation at all with him. The pair washed and dried the dishes in silence, as both of them were unsure of what to say about their almost-kiss.

At dinner, Zuko had felt the awkwardness emanating between the two of them when Katara had completely avoided eye contact with him. But the silence between the two of them now was more than awkward. He could feel Katara withdrawing from their friendship. Zuko realised, with a sickening feeling, that her silence wasn't from embarrassment about earlier but from shame. She looked so sad and serious as the scrubbed at the dishes.

Zuko felt a wave of dread creep over him. He felt so stupid; what had he been thinking in that closet!? Once again; he'd ruined everything.

Katara had quickly become his best friend; she was someone he could talk to about anything now. And they had worked so hard to get to that stage of friendship; Zuko didn't want to lose that. He didn't want to lose _her._

Zuko let out a sigh of frustration. He was not going to let her put her walls again and freeze him out.

As Katara moved to silently hand Zuko a recently cleaned bowl, Zuko quickly leaned in and splashed her with water from the sink.

Katara stared at him in shock, completely taken aback.

"Did you just splash a _master_ _waterbender_ with dirty water?" She asked in a low voice. She looked a little outraged, and Zuko briefly wondered to himself if it had been an utterly terrible idea. But slowly, a mischievous smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Wait!" Zuko began to cry, but before the word was even out of his mouth Katara had deposited a large amount of water from the sink over his head. It was too close range for him to firebend it into steam and he didn't want this to turn into a full bending match. The wave of water cascaded over him, drenching his clothes and the surrounding kitchen area, with all but one of the candles going out.

Katara had a huge grin on her face now and Zuko knew he was grossly outmatched. He slid forward, across the soaking wet stone tiling, grabbing Katara by the waist and turning her so that he was in between her and the sink. Katara screeched with laughter at the movement and now that he was closer, Zuko cupped his hands into the leftover pool of water and flung it at her. Katara laughed even harder as she raised her hand and the water splashed back into Zuko's face.

Zuko was soaked, with dirty kitchen water that was turning cold as it clung to his hair and clothes. But Katara, less than an arm's width away, was grinning at him with warmth in her eyes and Zuko felt his chest swell with happiness at the moment in front of him.

Katara noticed his awed expression and her eyes widened in surprise. It was the first time she had fully looked at him since stepping into the cupboard with him earlier. She swallowed nervously as she felt the ache in her chest return.

She admitted to herself that, perhaps, the ache wasn't her missing him. _How could she possibly miss him when he was right in front of her?_ She wondered as the ache squeezed at her lungs so that her next breath came out shakier. Katara began to realise that the ache was her craving something.

Zuko stepped towards her and she felt her hand reach up to press her palm softly against his scarred cheek. It felt like her arm had raised on its own accord, like the ache was pushing her to act. As their faces inched towards each other, in the dim light of the one remaining lit candle, Katara was briefly reminded of the time they had been stuck in an emerald cave under Ba Sing Se. Except this time, when Katara cupped her hand to his cheek, Zuko kept his eyes open; as he carefully watched Katara movements, trying to gauge her feelings. Slowly, he raised his own hand to cup her jaw, his thumb gently brushing at the side of her face.

They were just kids really, but it felt like they had matured beyond their years. The sights and experiences that weighed down on their shoulders were more than any person should ever have to bear, let alone two teenagers. They'd both been through so much and at such a young age; Katara tried to reason to herself, she just wanted to seek the comfort that she was craving.

She knew she should be avoiding this, this emotional distraction, but couldn't she be allowed a moment of weakness? A moment to seek the support and distraction she needed to survive. A moment to avoid drowning in the grief and emotion that the sea of war sought to crush her with.

Zuko cautiously leaned in, his eyes scanning her face for any kind of discontentment. Katara's nerves were only becoming more and more heightened with every passing second, and impatiently, she closed the distance between them before he could. Their lips pressed together in a short and closed-mouth kiss. Nervously, Zuko waited for Katara's response, with his forehead resting against hers. She smiled as she leaned in and gave him another short but sweet kiss. This time, Zuko's free hand found itself at Katara's hip as he eagerly pressed another kiss to Katara's lips, this time for slightly longer.

Zuko could only look back at Katara and smile as the pair broke apart to re-catch their breath. He'd never been very good with words but the ability to think of anything smart or smooth to say completely escaped him at that moment.

Katara had one hand tentatively placed at Zuko's shoulder, whilst her other hand had slid away from his cheek to curl into his hair at the back of his neck. She couldn't stop smiling; the ache had finally dissipated.

Her fingers had delved slightly beneath the collar of his shirt and she was momentarily confused when her fingers ran over a thin strand of metal hidden underneath. Curious, she tugged at the metal chain, bringing it up over his collar so that she could look at it.

From the chain hung two plastic rings; one of them charred. He was wearing their wedding rings.

"What?" Katara whispered confused. She stepped back, startled. It wasn't that she'd forgotten that they were married but what did it mean that he was wearing the rings? Questions flew threw her mind about why he was wearing them and how long had he had them like that.

"Shit," Zuko cursed. Katara was about to turn and run, but Zuko stepped forward and lightly grasped at her shoulders, holding her in place.

"Katara, don't freak out please, talk to me," He pleaded.

"I'm not ready," She whispered, shaking her head frantically. "I'm not ready to agree to it all! I like you, Zuko, but… being Fire Lady, being an actual wife, it's all such a huge responsibility! I thought we had agreed we'd decide after the war. I can't agree to it all now; there's already too much pressure," Katara panicked. "I'm sorry, Zuko. I'm sorry! I shouldn't have kissed you if I wasn't ready."

She felt awful; she was no better than a yo-yo! She'd gone from enemy to friend, from friend to sort of more, to retreating from being more whilst being his wife the entire time. She knew it was unfair to ask to be friends and then act another way. And even if she wanted to be a little selfish to make herself happy, she was worried that she was making Zuko unhappy in the process.

Zuko desperately tried to soothe her. "Shh, Katara. That's ok, it's alright." He rubbed gently at the top of her shoulders while he tried to get her to look him in the eye. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was holding onto them. I just… I didn't want to lose them like I nearly did when we left the Air Temple, so Suki helped me find this chain in the villa so that I could wear them, even if I was firebending. I didn't want to lose them in case you wanted yours."

"You don't have to be ready," Zuko promised her. A huge part of him desperately wished that she was ready to be his wife because then he could be completely open about his feelings for her without worrying she'd feel pressured. Even if the Fire Court declared their marriage void or declared Katara an unacceptable Fire Lady, Zuko wasn't sure if he would be able to bear Katara walking away. But Zuko also knew that he'd rather any time with her than none, even if it was limited. For all he knew, he wouldn't even make it to the end of the war, what point was there nailing down promises for afterwards?

"You don't have to be ready. It's alright," He promised her againas she leaned into him for a hug.

"Thank you," She whispered into his shoulder.

They heard the door slam as the rest of the gang returned from the beach and Zuko stole a quick kiss from Katara before they began cleaning up the kitchen mess. Zuko relit the candles whilst Katara used her bending to pull the water off of the floor and out of Zuko's clothes.

They re-joined the group in the living room; with Suki and Toph giving Katara knowing glances. After a while, Aang headed to bed first; exhausted from his day of training. Katara noticed as Zuko watched Aang's retreating form with a worried expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" She whispered to him. Zuko looked back at her, unsure if he should tell her or not. "You can tell me."

Zuko sighed. "I'm worried about Aang," He admitted.


End file.
